Live, Love, Laugh,...DREAM! Lina's Adventures

VACATION VACATION VACATION!

2012-01-11T16:19:00.000-08:00

Two more days and we are off for 4.5 weeks!
Andrew and I are planning to go hiking, mountainn biking, rock climbing, hopefully completing our SUP expedition CHINA and maybe a little rest here and there!We are going to see Yunnan and Guangxi provinces in China (maybe Hong Kong?!?), northern Vietnam and some of Thailand. We are trying to travel mostly by land but we had to sneak in a flight or two to make it all fit into 4.5 weeks.

I LOVE adventures!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Tiger Leaping Gorge: New Years

2012-01-04T21:23:00.000-08:00

Tiger Leaping Gorge - New Year 2011/2012 from Andrew Dye on Vimeo.

New Years weekend was our first three day weekend in forever and we took advantage of it. We flew to Lijiang in Yunnan province (south west of Chongqing). We got the 9:30pm flight out of Chongqing which allowed us to take the bus from school and have some time for dinner in the city before heading to the airport. Elong is a great online travel agency for flights and hotels in China. The Olive Tree Inn which we booked through elong had a van waiting for us at the airport when we arrived. This was grand as it was close to midnight and Lijiang old town is a walking only very confusing place. The driver dropped us off right at the hotel all for a hassle free 80rmb. The hotel was quaint, our room simple but clean and free breakfast of Mantou, rice porridge, warm drink and fancy buns all for 90rmb. We decided not to wake up very early Saturday morning and rush to the bus to get to Quiatou early and begin the trek. We were tired from the week and didn't actually know where the bus station was and most importantly we wanted breakfast!

After breakfast we made our way to the "new bus station" south of old town and caught the 10am bus to Shangrila which let us get off at Quiatou! We arrived in Quiatou at about 12:30pm, had some lunch of expensive but tasty egg and noodles (tourist prices!) and then headed for the trail. We had to pay the 50rmb park entry fee and walked along the newly paved road until we saw the sign for the high way mountain hike! The turn off took us on a smaller paved road until you reach a guest house. We managed to miss the turn off the first time around but eventually Andrew figured it out and we got back on track. The trail is marked with red, green or yellow arrows found on rocks, tree trunks and buildings. The route is fairly obvious but at some intersections it is best to check twice to make sure you are still on the correct path. Luckily it was off season for hiking the Gorge and we happened to land the most beautiful weather without the masses of people! It felt like about 20C during the day in the sun and about 2 degrees at night. We manged to get to the Tea Horse Guest House at about 5pm and chose to call it a day there. The guest house had about 20 rooms. The more expensive rooms at about 120rmb had private washrooms and looked very nice. We opted for the cheaper rooms at 60rmb with public chinese (sans doors) washrooms. The washrooms were ghetto but the room was decent. The guest houses serve food as well. This guest house was run by the children and they cooked up a great meal for us of veggie curry and rice, naxi bread and tibetan tea. It was my first experience of Tibetan Tea... interesting taste..there is a lot of fat and oil and it fills you up quite quickly.... I finished my cup but won't be lining up for seconds too quickly.... We hit the sack nice and early as we were tired and wanted to wake before sunrise to start the trek under the stars in the morning!

Sunday morning we woke at 7am and were on the trails by 730am. We walked about 1 hour to the Halfway guest house and stopped in for breakfast. We had terribly made yunnan coffee and tasty fried noodles and rice. The Halfway guest house was quite cute but much bigger than the Tea Horse where we stayed. We continued down to Tina's Guest House by the low road, poked our heads in.. It is and International Hostel, nice but not quaint looking like the others. We paid our 10rmb fee and walked down the sky ladder to the Tiger Leaping Gorge Rock by the middle rapids. Took some pictures and then walked the Ray of Sunshine route out towards Walnut Grove. The Ray of Sunshine route also costs 10rmb. We managed to hit these sections before any other tourists and saw some folks heading down as we were heading out. We didn't see a soul until lunch at Woody's Guest House at the end of the trek. We took the lower less travelled route to get to Woody's and I have to admit we thought we were lost for a bit there as the track wasn't very worn in and we couldn't see where it was going to lead us. We managed to eventually climb back up and found ourselved in front of Woody's Guest House. Here we had to make the choice of taking the 4pm bus back to Lijiang or risking the unknown and head to Daju. We opted for the adventurous choice over lunch of interesting veggie pizzza, naxi sandwhich and some better but not great Yunnan coffee.

After lunch we walked along the road until we saw a flag for the ferry. It was a steep descent back down to the river. It was lucky timing as we saw folks walking down to the ferry from the other end! We hurried to what we thought was the ferry dock but as it turned out we were off by about 100m and had to find our own way down through the rocks. We managed to jump onto the ferry and enjoy the ride across the river. The gorge looked beautiful from the river view. I love having the opportunities to enjoy views from mountain peaks and the waters below. We got off the ferry (30rmb each: pricy but worth it) and had to climb back out of the gorge once again. Once we reached the top we were greeted by a long twisty paved road. The road was quiet and we just started walking. It was about 8km to Daju. Luckily for us about 2.5 km into the walk a nice local lady drove by, stopped and picked us up. She dropped us off at the Jinh Sha River hotel, run by an older chinese woman. The chinese woman was excited to have us and was kind and helpful. Our room was the cheapest yet at 50rmb but the shower and toilet situation was definitely rustic! We had a chilled out evening taking pictures, eating freshly cooked chinese meals and enjoyed a walk around town. The wind was howling that evening and I was sure we would wake up without a roof over our heads. I was gladly proven wrong in the morning. We woke up nice and early to ensure we would catch the first bus (7am) back to Lijiang. The nice lady made us fresh mantos for breakfast and made sure we got on the bus (conveniently the bus stop was right in front of the hotel!).

The road out of town was twisty and high. We travelled over 3000m in altitude. Once at the top an unexpected surprise greeted us. We did not know we would be going through a national park and the guards wanted us to pay 185rmb each to drive through. Thankfully, we argued our way out of it and agreed not to get off the bus until we arrived in Lijiang. We drove through Yulong Mountain National Park.. pretty backdrop but very chinese in that they created a concrete resort with fake lakes and golf carts.... oh China!

Once in Lijiang we made our way through Old Town which is a maze of pedestrian only cobble streets, shops, restaurants, hotels etc.We hunted down an old lady carrying some tasty looking food and had an adventure trying to find door 88 The Restaurant from which the food came from. We managed to eventually find it, eat and then catch the airport shuttle back to the airport. Unfortunately, the adventure did not stop there, our plane landed two hours late which meant we missed the buses home from Chongqing. This mishap tested our bargaining skills as we had to agree on a price with a taxi cab to get us home... To finish this long tale, we made it home before midnight, relieved and beaming from the great weekend in the mountains!

more pictures here

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Mud, bamboos, cliffs, bikes, crops....

2011-12-18T01:51:00.000-08:00

I really felt like I needed and wanted to get out of Yongchuan this weekend. But as situation would have it, we stayed within running and biking distance of our home. At first I was terribly upset about not leaving the district but sitting here on Sunday evening, I feel refreshed and pleased with a really great weekend.

Friday night I chose to take a day off of any real kind of working out. I had run short but hard throughout the week with some mini crossfit workouts thrown in and a lot of yoga. My legs were tired. We relaxed by cooking up dinner and chillin with friends and listening to some Christmas tunes.

Saturday we slept in a little and got up just in time for morning yoga at the gym. The weather was pretty blah grey, wet, and cold (think vancouver winter after 6 days of rain and clouds....that was it). We got to yoga and noone else was there? Eventually two others showed up and we started class about 40 minutes late. We didn't mind, while we were waiting Andrew and I practiced some acro yoga, headstands, and some harder yoga holds. After yoga, we made some homemade breaky and fidled on the computer. Once we realized the weather wouldn't change, we put on our running gear and got out on our dirt road trail up tea mountain. We got to the top and explored some random new dirt roads and trails on top and then headed back down in time for lunch.... we were out for about 3 hours! The dirt road tea mountain is one of my favorite long run routes we have found here. The dirt road was extremely muddy thanks to a week of non stop wet weather... The mud, the mist, the rain, the cool weather all made for a unique run up the mountain.

Sunday we enjoyed another lie in... We woke up to SUN! and so decided it would be a good day to get on the bikes. We went up the other ridge around town and headed for Cucumber mountain. Cucumber mountain is a part of the ridge where there are a lot of crops and vegetable farms. They are also building a hotel surrounding a typical man made smelly green looking small lake!?!? Oh CHINA... Once we explored the main area of the crops, we got off the bikes and went exploring around some of the trails. We found one trail that had a large amount of stone steps that took us down to a plateau, which then divided into several other trails. We picked one that took us deeper into this forested valley. Within the forest we took a less travelled path to try and find where the waterfall sounds were coming from. We managed to find a little creek with a cute little/mini waterfall... we enjoyed this little oasis among concrete everything, took some photos and eventually made our way back around and up to our bikes. Before heading home we stopped in the village and got some lunch and again we were the attraction of the hour for the locals... :)

After about 5 hours of adventures on bike and foot we found ourselves back home, showered and pleased about our finds and adventures

I now realize that we don't always have to leave Yongchuan to explore and find adventures. There is a ton to do just a run and bike ride away from home. We got to sleep in, cook our own food, sleep in our own bed, save money, and still have adventures that felt like we were miles away from the city. If we had gone somewhere on the bus or train this weekend we would have been there for a rainy Saturday and missed enjoying most of Sunday's beautiful weather due to travelling back to Yongchuan.... I have to learn to listen to Andrew more often:) To truly understand some life lessons, you have to learn for yourself through experience...

live, love, laugh,..DREAM!

lina

Cycling to the Dazu Rock Carvings

2011-12-03T23:41:00.000-08:00

After discovering the ease of camping anywhere in China last weekend. Andrew and I made a plan to cycle to one of the main tourist attractions in the province of Chongqing. The Dazu rock carvings are found in several sites around the province but the most famous sections of carvings are found 15km northeast of the town of Dazu on Boading Mountain.

Saturday morning we enjoyed a little lie in. As we were getting ourselves prepared for our bike tour, our first adventure of the weekend was an unexpected power outage at 8:30am. Lucky for us our stove tops still worked for our regular eggs, potatoes, veggie scrambles and the elevators were still functioning. We live on the 23 floor and it would have been a long walk down with packed paniers and heavy bikes...

We departed our apartment in Yongchuan at about 9:30am. It is about a 25km cycle to a town called Youting. Nothing too exciting to report about the town other than it was where we needed to catch the road north to head to Dazu. The road from Yongchuan to Youting was the old highway basically paralleling the new toll expressway. It had some scenic farmland, rolling crop terrain, enough twists, turns, and hills to keep it interesting, and wasn't too full of black fumed trucks.

From Youting to Dazu the road is fairly flat and straight with lots of small shops and farm homes. There is no shoulder but the cars are used to people walking and slow scooters on the street; big vehicles honk and just go around you. It took us about 3 hours to get to Dazu. We found the center of town and had some hot noodles for lunch, the man serving us was very friendly and of course curious about us and our bikes. It is about another 12km to Boading mountain. The cycle from Dazu to Boading was pretty along a two lane road. The last 3.5km was the toughest climb of the day but still nothing too harsh. About 400m before the gates we had spotted a potential camp spot by the highway across from some buddhas.

Boading is a little village in itself created for tourists as it is full of tourists shops and restaurants. December 1st is the beginning of low season and the ticket prices are cheaper. It was 90RMB for visiting the rock carvings and another 10 to look at a temple.
A problem with bike touring is that the paniers are not designed to be carried when not attached to a bike. Our paniers were full and heavy and we did not want to leave them on our bikes nor did we want to carry them with us. Dilemma! Our first attempt at asking to store our paniers we received a very firm NO...then eventually after numerous attempts of asking people a very nice woman working with decent english allowed us to stash our paniers by the ticket booth! Hooray!

The rock carvings are very cool. There are large and small carvings, some in caves, some in color, some with broken off faces and some in a newer state. We thought it was something different and worth seeing for us! After checking out the carvings and temples, we perused the tourist shops and had some noodles and dumplings for an early dinner. There was no bubble tea to be found so we settled for a tea house and some green tea.

About 5:30pm we were tired and dusk was setting in so we were back on our bikes and back to the spot we saw earlier. On our way Andrew spotted some typical chinese steps on top of the buddha cliff. We parked our bikes and went to check it out. We found a sweet little spot free of vegetable growth on top of the buddha cliff. We tried to sneak our bike and sacks up but we think we were spotted by an old lady across the street.

We set up camp, and enjoyed the scenery and serenity of the place until dark fell upon us. We went to sleep nice and early and quietly. Unfortunately, for us it rained pretty solidly throughout the night. We stayed dry but it is a good thing we were only camping for one night as our tent and sleeping mats got soaked! As we packed up and headed down the cliff at about 7:30am in the dark mist an old man across the street up for his early morning smoke came over and seemed confused. We tried to smile and act nice but really could not communicate. We escaped on our bikes and rode away in the mist and down the mountain towards Dazu for breakfast. We made it back to Yongchuan, wet, dirty and smiling in time for lunch!

Having two days of about 4 hours of riding has been nice. We have been keeping fit but haven't been doing long days of activity lately and it is nice to know we haven't lost too much of our ultra endurance fitness as it is my favorite kind!

MORE PICS HERE
live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Camping in Wulong

2011-11-29T21:54:00.000-08:00

stop along the way picture by chinese student!

This weekend I left the hubby at home in Yongchuan while I went away with a chinese outdoor group to explore the Wulong County for some hiking and camping adventures. Myself and two other Canadian teachers joined a group of 9 on the long journey east. We had to take a 2 hour bus, then a 2.5 hour train ride. We had to stop/make camp in Wulong City as we arrived at midnight and the buses stopped running. Once we arrived into Wulong City we hiked along the road and down towards the river. We found a nice flat spot among farmer's land and set up camp down by the river. We woke up to farmers picking their vegetables and grooming their land. Some folks bathed in the river(not sure if that made them any cleaner?!?).

Wulong City Camping, picture by chinese student

We slowly packed up, had breakfast in town and then got a mini bus to take us about one hour into the mountains of Wulong County. We passed by some huge gorges where we stopped to take some photos and eventually found ourselves at a lake. After too many pictures we hiked for about 45min/1 hour over some hills and around the lake and found ourselves in a pretty valley. Here we had lunch and would be where we would camp for the night. It was a family owned guesthouse/camping site. Who knew?!? After lunch we headed off into the mountains. I wish I knew what the area was called but I don't. There were other camping groups staying the night there as well, some hiked in and some drove in!

the lake, picture by chinese student

After lunch, we hiked into the mountains, there were some nicely groomed single track trails for us to walk along. Elaine and I were out front and we decided to head straight up and see if we could get to the top of this ridge. Unfortunately, the trails slowly disappeared on us and we found ourselves bushwacking through bamboo. The others caught up and hung out by the kiwi trees, shaking down and gathering kiwis to bring home while we continued to bushwack until the wacking just got too much. We arrived back into camp about 5pm. I decided that I needed a little more sweat in order to call it a day and went for an hour run around the lower trails. Dinner was mutton lamb cooked over an open oven... Looked nice but I stuck to the veggies!

Sunday I woke before the others and went for a fast 40min run and later joined Elaine for another 20 min run before breakfast. After a slow beakfast of egg/tomatoe noodles and left overs we hiked back out just too find out we had to wait an hour for the van to get us. I had seen a lower trail around the lake as we hiked out so Elaine, another man and I decided to check it out while we waited, we found a mini waterfall and some more nice scenery plus got in some more exercise! It was perfect, we arrived back and the van came by not too long afterwards. We began our long journey back to Yongchuan. We arrived home about 7:30pm. A nice weekend away in nature!

eating!

Other exciting news:
Our Yukon River SUP Expetidion Video will be shown at the Cumberland Mountain (Amateur) Film Festival, January 12, 2012 at the Riding Fool Hostel in Cumberland. Tickets are $15 and they go towards raising funds for the Cumberland Community Forest Society. If you are around that area go check it out!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

A different kind of trail run

2011-11-23T18:40:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we decided to explore a somewhat nearby town called Chengdu. It was going to be a weekend to explore the city and its somewhat close surroundings. We managed to arrive late friday night via bus. 4 hours bus ride form Yongchuan. We got ourselves set up at the Traffic In Hostel and then cruised along the river, past the night clubs, enjoyed some fine fried noodle street food, hung out at the local pub by our hostel and called it a night.

Saturday morning Andrew and I went for an hour run along the river. It was a beautiful fall morning and many chinese people were already out and about. We found out later that we were fittingly running on the fitness trail! We then walked ALL DAY to temples (Wenshu and Green Ram Palace), shops, parks, and coffee shops. We found a great little alleyway with tons of coffee/tea shops, little funky bars, restaurants and a couple of outdoor shops, we loved it! After a full day of walking and seeing the city we spent the evening on Jin Li street, a touristy food and shop street full of lights and people. Not really our thing but a fun experience to check out regardless.

Sunday morning, we went out to check out the Panda Breeding Centre. I really wanted to check it out as Chengdu is really known for this centre and the pandas. We had gone with the hostel bus to make it simple and ensure that we would make it back in time for the hash run. The breeding centre is large with lots of walking paths, and happy cute pandas. We walked around, took photos, and hung with the pandas all morning.

I've been craving some trail running ever since we landed in china. We have found some dirt roads and short trails among the bamboo in Yongchuan, but nothing that has satisfied my craving for some good trails. A couple weeks back, I found out that Chengdu had a hash harriers running group every second Sunday. After some emails, I found out we were able to get to Chengdu for one of their runs and made a trip of it. We made it to the meeting spot no problems. I had never been on a true hash run so was excited to see what it was all about. We enjoyed a cold beverage while we waited for more people, buses, and t shirts. About 60 people showed up for the run, a good mixture of expat and chinese. They drove us about 1.5 hours out of the city to a small farm village. After some explaining, beer drinking and bathroom needs were finished they let us free to follow the flour markers and yell ON ON. It was good fun running through farmer trails, animal trails, and there was even some "bushwacking". It was just over an hour run with lots of sprinting for us as we stayed out front. We got a good workout as we ran through various intersections trying to find the correct trail to continue while others strategies were to wait at the intersection until one of us keenrs yelled out the correct route... Unfortunately, our statistics of choosing the correct trail was about 1% so we had lots of extra sprinting to do in order to get back in the front group. After the run there are some charges to be dealt which involved chugging beers and getting flour thrown on you. The whole experience was fabulous and we loved meeting new people, running on trails, and getting out into the farm land but we needed to get back to Yongchuan for work the next morning and it was getting close to night time by the time we left the spot.

PHOTOS HERE

We luckily managed to catch the night train home (long story) and we will be back to this great city and back to participate in the hash run.

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Playing in the bamboo forest

2011-11-13T01:36:00.000-08:00

Saturday we had a fun day playing in the great outdoors. We managed to get out before the rain came down. It was fun crispy fall day.

We rode our bikes up to the Bamboo forest on the dirt road along the ridge. This is actually quite a descent climb up on dirt road. It is about one hour to the top from our house with some fairly steep sections and washed out dirt. If we get out and ride this every week it will hopefully keep us fit and ready to tackle the NorthShore Mountains when we return to Vancouver (hopefully) without too much extra pain!

We stopped at some trails we found a few weeks ago and rode some single track on our hard tails...

We then continued to the top where the dirt road meets the paved road. We locked our bikes and went for an exploration hike through the bamboo. We found some paths both concrete and dirt, an old house, some wells, ponds, ridges etc. Once we started to get hungry we jumped back on our bikes and started to head down. Back to the lower section of bamboos we set up the slackline and played around on the line for a bit... We tried walking the line with running shoes as there were many sharp bamboo ends around the ground.. It proved to be a little tougher than I imagined at first,... but after a while we got the hang of it! Once our tummies couldn't handle being empty any longer we packed everything up and heading back to town on our bikes!

Today we walked around old town and found some excellent random chinese things.... it was such a nice fall day that I really wanted to out of town on our bikes so we rode up cucumber hill found a new road that gave us a great 1.5 hour ride on bikes.

I am proud of our continued effort to explore our surroundings... it keeps us on our toes!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Hangzhou International Marathon in a nutshell

2011-11-08T21:49:00.000-08:00

While in China for only 3 months I have already been itching to find some races. To be truthful, in my spare time I perouse through international race sites dreaming up plans of racing here, there, and everywhere. Sometimes, back in reality world I inquire into races that might actually be possible to enter rather than just dream of every possible race I would like to do on earth...
About 3 weeks ago during one of my 'perousing the internet for races in my spare time' moments I stumbled upon the Hangzhou International Marathon. With a thrifty entrance fee of $15 and a possibility of prize money I just couldn't not sign up for it. I somehow managed to convince Andrew to run a marathon in three weeks with no training or preparation?!? I quickly found some flights and figured out how to pay the entrance fee on time (Thank you Elaine, a friend with an online chinese bank account) and we were set. The only problem was... we had not been training for a marathon at all and were about to WING IT BIG TIME.

In the back of my mind I thought I was still a young 24 year old who could just pull off any type of sporting accomplished I wanted with grand success... well, last weekend I found out that I am no longer 24, I am 31 and I guess some things become a little more difficult with age.

What happened out there on the race course was not exactly what I had dreamed up in my head a few weeks back when I signed up for the race. The first half of the race was nice. We ran around the famous West Lake and then up through some mountains, farmlands, small villages, temples and pagodas. After about 21km we hit the river. We had an awfully long there and back on straight road and then it was a horrid 19km or so of straight flat unscenic(because you couldn't even see the river) run along the river. It was awful. I was bored and really had to push hard in my head to just keep running. My legs started to get sore from the constant pounding of similar terrain and I was pondering the reasons I wanted to sign up for this race so badly. I worked hard through the mountain stage to pass three girls and then lost the positions on the flats. FRUSTRATIONS... They clearly were better road runners than I. I tried all of my mental techniques to get me through to the end. I tried to disassociation by thinking about past memories and future plans. I tried to focus on my breathing and stride and associate myself with the present by focusing on what my body was doing and what was happening. I tried a lot of self talk, telling myself I have run longer and that this was easy. I broke down the run into segments and visualized how easy 5km of running is. I tried all of these methods many times throughout the marathon race. I didn't walk, I didn't give up, I smiled (and grunted), and I pushed myself through pain and I also crossed the line with the slowest marathon time to date for me... BOO..While I didn't get my goal of 8th place female(prize money cut off) I did managed to get in as the 13th female. Not too shabby for my first marathon since 2006 and without any training for it either... maybe there is still hope for my running career?

Two days following the race.. I still can't walk properly and I cringe every time I need to get off my butt and move but mentally I am ready and pumped to get my train on...and as always I seem to only remember the exciting and nice parts of the race. Funny how the brain seems to block out the bad and embrace the good!

Bring on the Great Wall Marathon in May...

Hangzhou is a pretty city with tons of temples, pagodas, buddhist caves and of course a big lake on which you can explore. We spent Saturday hiking through the hills by the lake (not relaxing like maybe we should have done?!?). It was a maze of stone stairs, caves, and temples. Pretty cool little place in which it is very easy to get yourself turned around and lost. Lucky for us we brought our handy dandy GPS. Got to love technology (sometimes). We also ate some food, cruised around some local shops, and found a fun little coffee shop where we did manage to sit and relax with some mighty fine americanos!
All in all a fun little weekend away!

MORE PICS HERE

live, love, laugh,..DREAM!
lina

Almost like flying through Bamboo...

2011-10-30T03:31:00.000-07:00

We both got sick this past week... I blame some long work days and cold weather that moved into Yongchuan.... we are trying to get better in time for our marathon in Hangzhou next weekend... I think we will... with rest, yoga, tea, and good food we will be ready to hit the pavement hard and run our little hearts out!

Friday night we both felt a little achy, I felt a little fidgety, so we decided to do an evening ride up Tea Mountain to get some fresh air and a change of scenery... Andrew took some nice pics of the sunset and tea bushes!

Saturday we had to work.... luckily, it was a gorgeous day and it was our outdoor sports event day so we got to run around and take in the sun.

Today we finally got to sleep in, which we did quite well! after a loungy morning we got on our bikes and rode up the dirt road along this ridge that eventually leads to the Bamboo Park. Last weekend we found a bunch of Bamboo just below the top and thought it would be cool to set up a slackline in the bamboo forest. So today we came back on our bikes and did just that... It was about a 45 minute ride to the spot... we were out on the line playing for about 45 minutes and then it was a fun downhill ride all the way home..

live, love, laugh,..DREAM!
lina

A wet weekend in Yongchuan

2011-10-23T01:26:00.000-07:00

We were both feeling tired from the hectic weekdays of teaching and everything that goes along with it! This week was my birthday, we got to judge a singing contest, teach yoga, play ping pong, learn Chinese, run, go to the gym to do weights, spin and yoga lessons AND teach over 70 kids and get them ready for ‘real’ life which will appear before them sooner rather than later…

This weekend proved to be a misty one in Yongchuan. We had a well deserved sleep in on Saturday, and did some things around the house. I also finally got around to fixing up my itune songs and ipod touch playlists. We were going to head out on a bike ride but the weather was unmotivating so we decided instead we would hit up the gym with weights and a spin class. I managed to do a yoga class at home with my online yoga program which was grand! In the evening, Andrew and I headed out to the gym to buff ourselves up and spin our brains out with flashing lights, really loud pop music and a very entertaining instructor and about 20 other Chinese people. I was thoroughly impressed with the lady in the back corner, she was wearing a fancy dress, with leg tights and nice shoes… We finished off our evening by watching House of Flying Daggers, a movie that was shot on Tea Mountain in the Bamboo Forest not too far from where we live. I have to say I am proud of the bamboo scene... Proud of little Yongchuan and its now famous park!

Sunday we enjoyed another sleep in, made a great breakfast of eggs, potatoes, and veggies along with a banana/date yogurt/black sesame smoothie and coffee. We then headed out towards Tea Mountain, the secret way up along dirt roads, farms, and forests. The fog was thick which gave the run a little bit of a surreal horror movie feel to it. We found some trails through bamboo forests and decided to play in there for awhile… The run was about 3hours with some playing around in the bamboo… Our first and last long run before the Hangzhou marathon coming up Nov 6^th.

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Catch Up Time

2011-10-20T22:39:00.000-07:00

Biking and Hiking on Tea Mountain (about a month ago)

We biked to Tea Mountain/Bamboo Sea weekend of Andrew's birthday . It is on a ridge not far from our house... It is about an hour ride to the gate and then about 10km along a windy road until you get to the place they filmed a movie called "House of Flying Dagger". There they have paths through a bamboo forest. it is very pretty as you get to walk along a rolling ridge top and explore temples, and other buildings.

Here are some of our favorite pictures:
PICTURES

I think we will run up a secret way towards the ridge for our long run this weekend... I am stoked...We are entered into the Hangzhou International Marathon in two weeks time... so it is time for some last minute brushing up on our running. It is taking place around a famous Lake in China called West lake (but apparently they name many lakes West Lake in China...so it is the one in Hangzhou City. ) This marathon is going to be interesting as we just decided this week that we are going to race and have not prepared whatsoever for it... I'm pumped.. My last marathon was the Vancouver Marathon in 2006.. I have done many ultras and trail runs since then but on the road it is just different... There is prize money though... so I banking on luck to do well and win back my money I will have spent on flights etc.

Chongqing City
We went to Chongqing for the weekend last weekend. We thought it would be fun to explore the BIG city for a whole weekend. We have been there for a couple of hours before for visa stuff and school related things but never got to really enjoy what the city has to offer.
We explored an old town of Ciqikou....We managed to take the subway and city bus there (yay for being like a local in China). In the process we had to buy a new camera as Andrew's managed to die that morning. Ciqikou is a cool place but it is full of Chinese tourists. We had fun checking out the Temple, enjoying coffee on the patio while everyone took pictures of us like we were part of the attraction of Ciqikou!
We met a friend from school who lives in CHongqing for Indian in Jiang Bei District... It was nice to have something different! yay Naan bread! We then managed to catch a night cruise on the Yangtze and Jianlin rivers. It is a 1.5hour cruise with a whole load of Chinese tourists. There are plenty of lights, beer, and good times in general.
We also got to do a little shopping (I like the hole in the wall little shops... found a fun sweatshirt). We finished our time by heading to another temple hidden amongst the modern buildings of Downtown Chongqing.

Pictures of our time are below:
PICTURES

live, love, laugh,..DREAM!
lina

Hainan Island, China

2011-10-11T06:14:00.000-07:00

Hainan Island 2011 from Andrew Dye on Vimeo.

October Holiday is a popular family holiday in China. Kids don't have school and seems like the Chinese flee to the tourist attractions of China.

I had found out about Hainan Island before we even set foot into China. I was searching the country for areas to Stand Up Paddleboard. My obsession with SUP has significantly increased throughout the last two years. I spent this past summer racing, planning and paddling the Yukon river Expedition, teaching at Deep Cove and running a SUPFit class as well. I was a little bummed when I found out we were heading to inland China where the ocean is far and most bodies of water are man made and kind of yucky… So, heading out to the ocean for the holidays seemed like a logical choice. My weakness in SUP right now is the surfing part, and if I want to play with the pros then I need to learn to catch waves like the pros. I decided that this year would be a good time to head to some beaches where I could hone my surfing skills and come back to Canada even stronger in the SUP world. So, I searched out and found Surfing Hainan. A very small surfing business in Sanya on Hainan Island, China. I emailed with them a couple of times and found out they even had SUPs around. The surfing culture and scene has not hit the Chinese just yet. According to many Chinese people, it is foreign and dangerous and gives you dark skin, all of which hinders the ability to make surfing cool among this culture.

Andrew and I were Surfing Hainan’s most avid and experienced SUP visitors thus far. The island is known as the Hawaii of China, hot temperatures, tropical rainforests, waves, fruit, sand beaches, etc. I planned the trip to be half surfing and half bike touring. I love bike touring with a destination goal. So assuming we were heading to a tropical paradise, I pictured surfing and laying on the beach for three days in Sanya followed by riding through the mountains and small villages across the island for another three days finishing in Haikou and flying out of Haikou! Well, we did it all except laying on the beach getting tans… the weather just did not cooperate with us. We managed to arrive at the tail end of Typhoon 1, surf through tropical storm 1 and bike through Tropical storm 2.

We arrived into Sanya, set up our bikes in the airport (Andrew had a nice little audience to show case his bike maintenance skills for) and then biked from the airport to the Raintree Hostel in downtown Sanya. The ride was pleasant as we biked along Sanya Bay to get across town. It was getting dark and we made some wrong turns but managed to beat the rain and the dark to the hostel. After settling in we met the owner:Justin, and he told us about a nice Chinese restaurant not too far along the way. We made our way to Dongbei Ren, and enjoyed some more classier Chinese food. We walked back to the hostel had some beers and then made our way to Dadonghai beach where we walked along the beach and enjoyed some of the more touristy beachside entertainements such as Chinese cover bands, patio restaurants, sandy beaches, tourist shops etc.

The following three days we rented SUPs from Surfing Hainan, and paddled out of the bay in both directions, surfed beach breaks, got told to head back closer to shore by water police and lifeguards, found the fish market, street food, dark beers, and there was a whole lot of walking in the rain!

Wednesday we took off on our bikes. We were headed down the middle road from Sanya to Haikou: 300km, 3 days, and 2 big mountain passes. Our first night after our first big mountain pass we made it to the mountain town of Wuzhishan. Here, we enjoyed playing pool with the local university students, walking the streets of town, learning how to order bubble tea, eating local street foods, and enjoying the mountain air and views.

The next day was our longest day in distance, time and the most rain. We stopped for lunch in Qiongzhong County where we had to quickly escape the downpour that seemed to follow us all morning. We managed to find a little whole in the wall restaurant that served us fried noodles and garlic fried cabbage. We sat there for awhile trying to wait out the rain until we realized we still had at least 4 hours of riding left and it was 230pm. We put on our goretex jackets for the first time and buckled down and peddled out into the rain again. We rode all the way to Tunchang County, where we unknowingly bargained down the hotel price by almost 50%, walked around town in the rain, enjoyed ordering more street fried rice, and bubbletea.

The rain kept coming through the next day but we had moments where I thought I was starting to get dry but the rain would time itself pretty perfectly to ensure I didn’t quite dry out completely before soaking me all over again. This was a tough day, the third day in the saddle, the legs were getting tired, the butt was becoming tender and the roads were flatter and straighter. We did bike past many many cows, we saw tons of chickens, geese, ducks, and my favorite pigs roaming the streets and crossing the highway at the leisure. We did get some exciting moments as we neared Hailou, the rain started coming down quite heavily and we managed to follow some scooters through a major traffic jam due to the road being washed away, they were blarring their music, wearing their ghost type rain panchos and managed to squirrel our way around trucks, buses, cars, fast moving water, washed away roads around to the other side. We were grateful for their presence. We ended up riding into town on the opposite side to where we wished to be and had an amusing ride through town through calf deep water along all roads, crazy scooter drivers even in the rain, in a complete down pour. We finally reached the Banana Youth Hostel, enjoyed some fine itlaian pizza from a real Italian chef from italy, beers, ping pong and some beers with some nice Americans that we met. The next day we slept in, enjoyed a late brunch, and a walk around old town Haikou before we had to pack up and fly back to Chongqing.

PICTURES HERE

Live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Teach me Kungfu Please!

2011-09-18T03:30:00.000-07:00

Andrew and I went on yet another exploration run with great success.We saw this ridge on google earth that we wanted to explore and went there today. Some of the prettiest countryside yet around the Yongchuan area. We saw black goats, lots of chickens, pigs, ducks, and fancy cars?!? Here are some pics.

Last night we also discovered outdoor movie night.. and the best is the screen is made out of splashing water! gotta love the chinese.... they do it all!

FLICKR has been updated for more pictures..HERE

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

3 weeks in Yongchuan and…

2011-09-17T18:41:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, I did have a little breakdown on Friday. I am not exactly sure what spurred the longing of our old life back in Vancouver but anyhow, inevitable I suppose. I am feeling much better today after a morning run and an afternoon bike ride in the countryside.

Teaching has been a good experience thus far. I feel like I have connected with students at various levels. I feel like I am motivating the unmotivated in PE to at least move and sweat with a smile on their faces. I am also making an effort to acknowledge every student. It is pretty easy to get caught up in the hurry, must accomplish this and that of education and neglect the most important part of being a teacher: reaching out and helping kids and noticing things that parents, friends, coaches fail to catch. Taking the time before and after class to sit and chat with a student is a worthwhile venture. You can learn a lot by just listening and watching…

I’ve decided we need some mini projects. I want to build (with Andrew) a ping pong table and a chess set…. I’m curious to find out if these projects will come to fruition or simply remain as fun ideas….only time will tell!

I think Andrew, myself, and a co-worker have decided to enter the Beijing Great Wall Marathon. It is in May so no real rush…. It’ll be nice to have something to run for. I feel like I want to get excited about a new event. I do love racing, the social aspect of it, the travel, the feeling of success, accomplishment, and the hard work! I did find another race in Hong Kong that might be a perfect precursor to the marathon and it’s a trail running race….even better! (I miss my trails…. A lot)

Yesterday, Andree and I ventured to the local countryside. We have a GPS (thank you MEC) but we can’t read the signs. Things here in Yongchuan, change very quickly. Our strategy thus far has been to look up roads etc on google earth, draw a hand map and then put the GPS on and see where we went when we got home and look it up on the computer and GPS. Yesterday we were looking for a dirt road to villages on a ridge, we were convinced and then not convinced and then re convinced that we were on the old dirt road that is now paved! We made it to Cucumber Hill and Pear blossom garden (although we did not realize this at the time) and then found another newly paved switchback road down through villages to a big lake on which there is the Chongqing Arts and Science Campus 2. We are finding success on a more frequent bases at ordering the food we want!

Today, we will explore this dirt road(which is still a dirt road as far as we can tell) through running-the beginning of our “training”. We are not exactly sure where it will take us but we are looking forward to finding out as the surrounding area is quite pretty!

Live, love, laugh,…DREAM!
lina

Exploring Tea Mountain By Bike

2011-09-10T03:22:00.000-07:00

View of a University campus and lake from half way up Tea Mountain

We completed our first full week of teaching at Maple Leaf. The week finished off with Teacher Appreciation Day. I had the pleasure of receiving many beautifully written cards from various students of mine. These cards re emphasize to me, the reason I love teaching and now I chose the right profession for me.
The weather cooperated a little better than last week... not much better though. After two days of extreme heat we got 3 days of cool rain... hmmm.. The students were pumped though to get outside (as was I) and I got to teach them a bunch of fun minor games like kickball, speedball and capture the flag. In return I learned about a Japanese superhero called Ultimate, the chinese word for HOT and RAIN and different forms of rock paper scissor... SUCCESS!

I am in love with these funky plastic stools that everyone sits on in the middle of the sidewalks

Andrew and I also had some more exciting eye opening experiences in the gym (chinese spin class, and weights), a chinese lesson after school where we tried to learn a famous poem in chinese, some more running adventures as we continue to find the little gems of Yongchuan (we saw men fishing in our "river", not sure what kind of fish they caught but not sure I want anything to do with them), and more flavored bean popsicles. We also found out that we both enjoy street BBQ (veggie style) and Leo, the man who owns the street BBQ that we like treated us to some sweet tomatoes and a weird rice soup thing...

The selection at street BBQ

Andrew waiting for BBQ at mini table

Today we went exploring on our bikes again. Last weekend we got turned around by the police after only the first switch back up Tea Mountain. So, we decided to try our route again in hopes of the road block not being there. SUCCESS. We rode up Tea Mountain to the gates (where you have to pay to enter the National Bamboo Park. We will head into the park for Andrew's birthday and hopefully ride the ridge, stay at a farm house(if we succeed with our chinese) and hike through Bamboo. For today we explored the road up the mountain, enjoyed the fresh cool air, the many tea fields, and funny road signs . Just so you know, I really LOVE the mountains. Here are some pictures of our adventure from today.

chinese stone and tea terraces high up on tea mountain

cool rock with chinese graffiti on a little off shoot peak on tea mountain

biking down tea mountain

Concrete bird on tea mountain

Gotta love CHINA

sign on the windy road down Tea Mountain

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Hello Ms.A…

2011-09-03T00:54:00.000-07:00

School has started and I got to meet my 80 new students that I will be whipping into shape this term. I am teaching 4 PE classes… two all girls and two mixed gender classes. Our first two days of PE though weren’t a good test of what PE will truly look like as we were forced to stay inside (we have no gym and so PE is 100% outside) as the temperatures outside were above 40C…. TOO HOT! We played lots of initiative games and had some fun but I think the students and I are both looking forward to Monday where we get to explode onto the giant field!

Other than lesson planning and teaching, Andrew and I have begun to explore the local area more and more each day. We bought bikes from our local Giant Bike Shop. I got a Pop 3.0 and Andrew a Hunter 3.0. Andrew struggled to find a big enough bike, they seemed to have a large quantity of size small frames.. Our bikes are not of supreme quality but they are tough and hopefully will get the job done.

We have also been out to eat some more with the group. We have finally experienced Hot Pot (comparable to a spicy version of fondue), cold noodles, meet on a stick, and many more dishes. I need to get better at saying I don’t like any kind of meat….. They seem to find it unbelievable that I just want vegetables so out of kindness keep bringing me things with meat in it…. J

We have run a lot but not enough… We have found some little concrete parks with man made lakes, fake concrete tree stumps, crazy gold looking statues, tombstone caves, farm fields in the middle of the city, and more… Running has been a fantastic way to explore the local hood. Now, that we have bikes we can take it a step further and explore little towns just outside the city! Stoked!

We also just booked out first one week holiday. Hainan island here we come. It will be a stand up paddleboarding surf and bike trip!

Live, love, laugh,..DREAM!

lina

Getting settled in Yongchuan, China

2011-08-26T18:49:00.000-07:00

View of the world from our balcony

We have been in china for about 5 days now. We have settled into our apartment (which is way bigger than our little loft in east van). We spent two days at the school learning about how the school works and what we will be teaching. We get free lunch (we think) which consists of rice and some spicy vegetables and or meats. I've just stuck to the veggies thus far but Andrew has been expanding his horizons in the meat world.

View of random fireworks from our apartment

I am getting excited to do some exploring on my new 'Giant' Pop 3.0 Bike but we have to wait for a bigger one to come in for Andrew.... We've been out on a couple of runs in between group actvities and are excited to get out on our legs in the nearby countryside. We did find some nice city routes along the river(it is not quite a river but not sure what it is so I will call it a river for now).

Yesterday we had to head to the big city of Chongqing (30 million people) to get our medicals done and do some shopping etc. We scored a badminton set as we have courts on the property around our apartment. Can't wait to hone my skills and challenge the chinese....

Little chinese boy playing with a little turtle in the bag

On the way home there was a huge accident on the highway and we got detoured onto a backroad. Can't wait to go back on our bikes, it was sketchy, windy, and climbed up and over a mountain going past the countryside of Zamou (town in between Yongchuan(our town) and Chongqing). Exciting times.

It is HOT here but not unbearable really, I'm on a mission to find a way to get into the Olympic size pool that seems to be empty and surrounded by gates:)

I found out my teaching assignment: PE 12, PE11, PE10 and grad transitions. I am very HAPPY with this! I am totally looking forward to teaching and even more so seeing our gym get finished by October!

live, love, laugh,..DREAM!

lina

Oceanman and Vancouver SUP race

2011-08-08T09:38:00.000-07:00

Well,
I think my body deserves a big pat on the back and a big rest. Good thing I am heading to the cottage for a week for my sisters wedding and just some plain old relaxing cottage fun... I can't wait to be sun bathing on our wooden row boat sippin on gin and juice and beltching out some old school lithuanian camp tunes!

but first a recap of what its like to finish a tough 6 day adventure race and 6 days later try to push the body to its limits in a more sprint fashion race (x2).

Oceanman
I can't believe I managed to miss this event for so many years. Gary Parsons puts on one fun filled event. It all happens around Jericho sailing club and pushes the limits of a different kind of athlete... maybe more like the fish in us....

The race was a 1km swim, 5km kayak, 6km run and 2km stand up paddleboard

I am not a horrible swimmer and I used to race triathlons, so although I don't enjoy swim starts I am no novice to open water/mass swim starts but on this particular day you wouldnt have known, and neither would I. I definitely knew my body was run down and hadn't fully recovered from my adventure race but I was trying to think positive and was super excited to get to be part of this race and experience it solo style. I knew a bunch of people racing, people in the crowds and Johnny was helping me out with support. I didn't want to disappoint anyone, including myself.

On the start line, the waves were big, choppy, and coming from every direction. The big yellow triangle bouys were moving all over the place. Gary yelled go and we were off, I tried to stay calm and just breathe nice and slowly. I started on the edge of the crowd, pretty happy with my choice, and then it all went downhill... I was hyperventilating, coughing, panicking, and then.....breaststroking (i never breaststroke, especially in a race). I was trying to do everything in my power to calm myself down, think positively, and get through the 2 loop swim course. About half way through the first loop after lots and lots of people passed me I definitely was planning my escape route. I didn't think my body was recovered and able to complete the race. I was hooped. I eventually made it to the beach after the first lap, flipped up my goggles, WALKED (also a never for me in a race) around the marker on the beach and as I was deciding how to end my suffering, I saw Andrea standing on the edge of the beach, yelling GO LINA! At that moment I knew I was getting back in the water for the second lap. THANK YOU for being there Andrea, I am so glad I didn't quit. So I managed to just get through the swim, in last place of solo women. It was a little embarrassing and tough getting out of the water and running down the log to the kayak but when I saw all the support I had I started getting fired up again. I wasn't tooo far behind the others.

The water was still mighty choppy on the kayak. I put on my tweaker Ryders sunglasses and jumped onto my surfski. I was paddling the Fenn XT surfski (thanks Stu). I actually felt super stable and ready to tackle the cross chop and whatever else the waters had in store for me. I managed to pass one girl and a bunch of other boats on the paddle. Feeling much better.

Off the kayak Jen D helped me clean my feet and I put on my running shoes and off I was on the run. I wasn't feeling too bad, but obviously not my strongest. I just kept a good steady pace on the run. The run took us around Jericho Park. It was a really fun there and back course, all on trails! I managed to again pass some folk on the run. I was telling myself throughout the run to just keep a good pace and that SUP was next and that was my thing.... no worries!

By the time it was time for the SUP the waters calmed down a bit (which I was pretty happy about as I was on my 23.5 inch wide Starboard New). I felt totally stable and got to punch through the SUP section. I almost had a major screw up missing a buoy but Dale caught me just in time to let me know. I turned around and still managed to re catch the guys who passed me while I fixed my mistake.

I managed to come in 3rd for the solo female category but most importantly,...... I didn't quit and finished. I am proud of me and my mind!

Following the race there was a delicious salmon bbq, with beers, and pie, and lots of draw prizes!

Check here for more info!

Vancouver SUP Race
Pretty tired and sore from the previous day of racing the Oceanman, I lazily got on my bike and made the 45min ride back to Jericho sailing club. Again the wind was up and the waters ultra choppy. I was tired but also excited as I love racing on the SUP. I managed to get on a 25inch Starboard New, which for me was perfect. The 23.5inch was just a little too unstable for the conditions and that extra 1.5inches gave me the confidence and stability I needed.

4km Race
The first race was a 4km course. At first all of us endurance junkies were annoyed by the shortness of the long course. With the chop and headwinds and side chop..... it felt a lot longer and ended up being a really fun length... Good call Gary! I can never get a really good start on the SUP (I need to work on this) but I managed to get a better start than most. I stayed upright on my board. The start of the race was tough, really tough.... the waves were coming in sideways, and all over really and they were big... Rounding the first bouy Shannon was right on my tail... I just kept concentrating on the water and what I needed to do though, as I was still on a pretty tippy board and one moment of loss of concetration would mean I would be in the water... The head wind heading out to the far bouy was tough. You really needed to power through each stroke (totally what I love). Coming in from the far bouy it was a fun downwinder and I was trying to experiment with riding some waves. I haven't had much chance to practice downwinders but would like too... they was fun! I came in as the 2nd 12'6 rider and the 1st female overall! I was pleased.

Relay Race
Mike D, Kimo, and I were a team for the relay. The relay was a 1km course that we each did. Mike started us off. He was in a tight battle with Gary P. They were both on the 14 foot Ace. Mike came in about 5 seconds before Gary and then it was my turn. I was head to head with Shannon. About a minute into the paddle I fell off. I am not sure exactly what happened but it caught me totally off guard. Funny enough I was telling friends that I never fall off in a race... hahaha.... Anyways, I got myself back on the board but Shannon pulled ahead during my faff. I managed to sort of catch her on the first turn and then caught some little waves before heading out on the second loop of the 1km course. Again, going out in the headwind is kind of my thing, and managed to pull ahead and stay ahead on the downwind section. Next up was Kimo. He was battling it out with Kelvin on the other team. They both battle different kinds of boards and so had some trouble staying up right. This caused some excitement for the relay race. In the end Kimo pulled through and managed to have one less slip into the water than Kelvin. 1st place in the relay race.

Sprint Race
This was a mighty fun gongshow. We were all on the surf style boards (12 foot and under). It was an all out mass sprint to a bouy about 25meters away and then back. Mike D caused some chaos by going the other way around the bouy and Kelvin managed to squeeze through for the win.

Deep Cove SUP racers hit up the podium
Mike D winner male 4km
Me winner female 4km
Mike and I win the relay
Kelvin H win the sprint

Again, another fun day of racing. I love racing but am totally excited to take a break and relax at the cottage.

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Raid The North Extreme with Team Gearjunkie/Yogaslackers

2011-08-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

PICTURES HERE from Raven Eye Photography

By Raven Eye Photopragphy

RTNX 2007 was my first expedition race which was held up on the Queens Charlotte Islands. I was naive, inexperienced, but fell in love with this crazy sport. I met a ton of fun people and started racing all around the world.

4 years later I find myself back on the start line of RTNX 2011, I am older, more experienced, on a strong team, and have high hopes for a killer course, great organization, and a strong finish.

In a 6 day expedition style adventure race each member of the team will experience the extremes of highs and lows, physically and emotionally. This particular race sent us through an amazingly beautiful course but at the same type a brutally tough one. Most of the time the beauty and the level of difficulty tends to blend together. As the deeper into the bush, the higher into the alpine, and the farther away from civilization you go by means of human powered methods the tougher the terrain, the higher the consequence but the more prestine the environment and picturesque the scenery.

I felt a little nervous before the race as it had been a couple years since my last expedition. I raced with Yogaslackers back in 2008 but since then the team Gearjunkie/yogaslackers has been killing it in a good way. They race lots and come out on top most of the time... I am competitive and at this point would feel frustrated to be on a team that was not in contention of winning so I put the pressure on myself-to be fast. The other unique thing about our team for this race was that unlike most teams who race with 1 female and 3 males... we had 2 females and 2 males. Luckily, Chelsey and I are strong and got on very well and our team was tight and worked well together. We were fit and we moved fast together.

The race began with a 5000 foot climb up on bikes. We had a slight navigational mishap that put us in 2nd to last place right off the bat... it was catching up time for us. We passed a ton of teams on the climb,.... this is when I knew we were a physically strong team. It was off onto our first big trek after the bike. We took the river route, which involved lots of bushwacking, river crossings (on logs, i'm glad for my slacklining skills) and devils club. I had never seen so much devils club and was thankful for wearing long sleeves and long pants and gloves. Albeit all the clothes they still managed to poke through but I cant event imagine what the bodies of those wearing shorts looked like.. OUCH. We eventually caught custom cellular and Nuun and finished the trek off with them through the night. We decided to run into the transition that put us into 2nd place. We were all super energized to have trekked into 2nd position so we decided to keep moving and got on our bikes right away. We managed to even see the 1st place team for about a second...

We made another nav error that cost us some valuable time and energy but still managed to keep a hold of 3rd place heading into the 1st paddle. A big portion of the bike legs seemed to encompass a large amount of climbing... lucky for us we were all quite good at this but it was still tough, especially mentally. The descent off of Idaho Peak was this kind of sketchy single track with tons of blow downs.. Once it gets cleaned up definitely a fun ride. I managed to hit a branch with my handbars on the double trac and went flying off my bike.. luckily only my confidence was a little bruised:)

Into our first paddle. I was feeling good and Jason and I paddled well together. Infact, as it happens a lot in adventure racing we happen to be feeling much better than our other canoe and so we towed them for the last bit of the paddle in order to keep our pace and stay together.
Off the paddle we were still in 3rd place and on our way to our big trek through Valhalla Park. The rain had been falling on and off but this time it was coming down for awhile. We got to follow a trail up to Beatrice Lake but as night fall hit and the rain was not slowing down, we started to get very cold. We needed rest. Daniel managed to find an old outhouse and this is where we tuckered down for the night. I was so opposed to this at first but with its dryness and not smelling factor I complied and tried to get some shut eye in the shithouse...
After a couple of hours we were off again still raining and still dark, it took us awhile to actually find the trail again which was a little frustrating but eventually we managed to get to Beatrice Lake. Here, we all wished for the packrafts sitting in a bin and not with us. The 5km bushwack around Beatrice Lake took amazingly long, it was slow, with tons of alder, cliffs, devils club and debris. We managed to finally reach the waterfall, hike past the lakes and make it to the next big obstacle, snow, and a 1000 foot waterfall. Here, I was tested with my fear of side stepping on snow with consequence of falling. All I could think about was that if I fell I would slide down the snow and into this freezing lake... It was tough for me, thank you to my teammates for helping me through that one. Once we reached the greenery beside the waterfall I felt much better being able to grip the alder and not see the drops below me.
Here, the sceneray was just spectacular, huge peaks covered with snow, and alpine lakes everywhere. We trekked through snow, on boulders.. as long as there was no steep side hilling with cliffs I could see I was a happy camper:)

We got into Ice Creek Lodge at dusk along with team Momar and Tecnu (the teams that we would be flopping places with back and forth until the end). Ice Creek lodge is a super funky little backcounry lodge equipped with all necessities and of course a sauna. Unfortunately, we were in the heat of racing and there was no time for a sauna for us, just some soup and coffee and off we went for more grueling mountaineering in running shoes and tights (I kind of love it..) Before we left we learned of a change in the course. A happy change where we would get to ride our bikes 20 km down a logging road instead of hike the 20km. Even more motivation to get it done quickly but safely!

We had two mountain passes to get through. They were snowy and they were steep. We got through the first one just as dark was upon us. The second pass was a little more difficult to find and once we finally reached it and got over it we got a little stuck on the way down with teammates getting tired and the darkness making finding a way down a little more difficult. We snuggled up and tried to catch some shut eye on the top of the mountain. It was cold and in retrospect probably not the best decision. We woke up to frozen snow. Arg, making glisading down a little more dangerous and for me a lot more terrifying. We made it through though and found the trail that was to take us out to our bikes. After a 36 hour trek that last thing you want is to arrive to a transition to find out it was moved back down a 20km logging road and that instead of bikes you had to use your legs and walk. We were tired, out of food, and really wanted our bikes. At least we had something to talk about on our 20km running/hobble to check point 10. We gathered ourselves together, without water (they didn't have any there) and headed off onto our bike leg.

This leg had a cool little zipline on it where you zipped across with your bike. We then got steered the wrong way once again and managed an extra 10 or so km the wrong way... back on track we headed up some logging roads that eventually let to a really cool atv track up a mtn pass and then secretly hidden among the bushes was this amazing doubletrack crazy trail. We ended up seeing team Momar behind us which probably gave us some extra umph in our peddle stroke but we flew across this trail and down the other logging road getting to the start of the long paddle just as dark set upon us.

We tried to think of a creative way to pack the bikes and paddle... soemthing like three people in a canoe towing one other with all the bikes. It was dark, we were loopy and it didn't really work. We dismantled the creativity on the water in the dark and what entailed was daniel and I paddling a canoe backwards with four bikes. It didn't last long, along with J and C seeing things.. so we found a spot to hitch a tent and went to sleep. No problems, except we overslept,... and when we awoke it was light and many teams passed us throughout the night. OOPS.

We just had to keep paddling. Jason found Daniels ipod and speakers so were blasting some tunes to keep ourselves motivated. We finally reached Renata, enjoyed some 'real' food and made our way up another high pass. For some reason after this paddle I had it my head that things would get easier... I was wrong, this was one tough hike a bike, it was long, it was hot, it was steep.... We finally made it up and the thing that kept us going was excitement for biking through the tunnel. It was cool, as in cold and amazing. We got out the other end to find out we were to be the last to get through the checkpoint(barely made it as they changed the cut off time). We cycled down to the trek.

We were only an hour behind tecnu and momar sitting in 6th place. Here is where things started to break down a little. They didnt bring us one of our bags (it had warm clothes and half the food). Volunteers were amazing as they scrounged their own food barrels to provide us what they could. We set off on the trek but there was some confusion and although we clearly said goodbye to the volunteers on foot some people at the headquarters thought we scratched. So, after a very tough trek, we were looking for a road junction amongst many road junctions for the checkpoint but there was noone to be found, Noone at the checkpoint, hours wasted, our mojo was getting low. We finally made it to the last transition, again our bag was missing, and thankfully the volunteers here made our day and raised our spirits. They once again shared their food and their enthusiasm with us and we were on our way on our bikes with full bellies and happy thoughts.

We were biking and were oblivious to how difficult it would be to get to the base of seven summit trail. Nothing was marked, there were no trails on the map but we were to follow the trail signs. We got lucky on the first part and Dan let us to the pass. Another team was not so lucky and had to turn back after 2 hours. I got really sick here, as did Jason, we wre freezing cold in the warm sunshine but we kept on biking just more slowly than usual. Eventually we got to the strawberry pass looking for a sweet single track down and couldnt find it anywhere. We had to bushwack again with our bikes. When we finally reached the base of seven summits it was dark and we were tired. We started the climb but about 2km in we realized that we were freezing, tired, and seeing things. We took a rest, woke up even colder and our minds still tired. We decided to buckle down for a couple of hours while we were still low down as we didn't have all of our gear (in the missing bag) we didnt feel it safe if we had to stop up top. SO we got out our space blankets, spooned and tried to get some shut eye. I however decided to have some sleep freak outs. Apparently I kept waking up yelling, thinking we were in danger and on a cliff. Its funny to hear about it after the fact but I think my teammates were not so impressed with my sleep talking skills.

In the morning we managed to get up at sunrise and ride the seven summits but again got mislead and rode an extra 4km or so UP..as we missed the junction that had no sign.... we eventually met up with another team and found the correct exit and made our way to checkpoint 22 the last one before the finish. We were so excited to have completed the whole course (minus the little mt glory hike) when everything just came to an abrupt stop at checpoint 22. The headquarters truck was there and Chris, was not very nice to us and essentially told us our race was done. There would be no support for us if we rode to Trail, there was no congratulations, no positive talk at all. Just really rude comments. We were all in shock I think. All we wanted was to cross that finish line and have someone say congrats to us for all of our hardwork the past 6 days. I am still pretty dissapointed with how that ended, it could have been so different. Chris, next time just think about the racers and what they accomplished and a simple smile would have even salvaged the disapointment we felt.

so who knows what the actual results are but who cares really. I had a blast racing with the yogaslackers... Chelsey and I rocked in a team of two girls and two guys. We raced hard, and we worked well together. We will share many vibrant memories that will last a lifetime.

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Raid the North Extreme

2011-07-20T23:37:00.000-07:00

Heading out for this 6 day adventure race out of Nelson BC.
I will be racing with team Gearjunkies/yogaslackers

check HERE:

for race updates and follow us.

Race is July 24th to July 30th!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

2011-07-13T00:39:00.000-07:00

YUKON SUP EXPEDITION REPORT and MORE click HERE!

Adventures in The Canadian NorthWest

2011-07-11T22:36:00.000-07:00

24 Hours of Light Mountain Bike Race June 25th-26th was a blast.
Andrew and I managed to complete 24 laps. Each lap was about 13km and we switched every lap the entire time except for a 30 minute mutual sleep at about 3:30am.

The toughest part of the race was two fold. My last really dark lap from about 1am to 2am. I didnt see a single racer and it was dark enough to give me the spooks. The second was getting up from a 1.5 hour nap to ride at 4am on my mtn bike. I hated everything about life for about a good 10 minutes until I was on my bike and riding. It is humorous looking back but I don't think too funny especially for Andrew at the time.

My favorite moments were coming in at midnight from a lap and there being hot chili, Andrew, Colleen, and David at the finish line!

We managed to win the 2 person team category and not be too far off from the 8 person and 4 person teams. Check out the article about us in the Whitehorse Star.

SUP Yukon Expedition

The Yukon River SUP Expedition is complete! click HERE Yukon SUP Expedition for VIDEO and report.

A big thanks again to the sponsors that helped us out:
Mountain Equipemtn Co-op
Starboard SUP/Trident Sports
Kialoa Paddles
Ryders Eyewear
Deep Cove Canoe and Kayaks
Icebreaker
Werner Paddles

and special thanks to Colleen, David, Sushi, and Magic in Whitehorse for their amazing support, accomodations, and energy.
AND
team Yukontario and Sam for driving the car, the tea, the showers, and support
AND
my husband Andrew Dye for sitting in a kayak for 5.5 days and beaing the best kayak support I could ask for!

Over 6000km of driving in a car;
24 hours plus probably another 12hours of mountain biking;
5.5 days of paddle boarding;
a beautiful wedding of a close friend....
all in under 3 weeks and all in the west coast of a pretty amazing and beautiful country-CANADA

I love adventure... bring it on!

next up: Raid the North Extreme with team Yogaslackers July 23rd-July 31st

Live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Yukon SUP Expedition...the road Trip up north

2011-06-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

We took three days to drive from Vancouver to Whitehorse.
After last minute packing and boat pick up on Day 1 we drove to just outside of Quesnel at the Ten Mile Provincial Park. All went smoothly. We managed to get a great little site and the bugs although more intense than vancouver definitely still manageable. We cooked up a great meal of left over veg and took a walk to the lake.

Day 2 We started off the day with a lie in and then a SUP and kayak around the lake at the park. We wanted to test out the gear and also get some exercise and enjoy the beautiful sceneray before hitting the road. It was perfect. We stopped in Smithers for lunch/breakfast/dinner (we forgot to eat this day..oops!)
Smithers is a cute northern town with a ski hill and a great little bike shop! The map told me there was a provincial park just north of Bell 2 but it lied so we ended up spending the night in our car at a rest stop not too far from Iskut. On this day we saw a lot of wildlife, a total of: 9 bears, 1 moose, 1 fox (with a dead bird in its mouth) and a deer type animal... we didn't think setting up the tent was wise... Yay for Subaru outbacks!

Day3
We had a truckers breakfast at Dease Lake and pushed on all the way to Whitehorse! We got in at about 530pm bought the Mike Rourke's Yukon River book, had dinner, set up camp at Robert Service Campground, ran by the river, and then went out for a couple of pints just because it was light out at 11pm!

Today: we managed to finish our errands early and are going to hit the trails on our bikes..YAY!

all is well

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Holding onto my title as Queen of Kalamalka at the Kalamalka Classic 2011

2011-06-21T07:37:00.000-07:00

Norm Hann and Me as King and Queen of Kalamalka!

This past weekend was filled with good fun, hard earned prizes, sweat, cheer, and a beautiful growing community of stand up paddleboarders.

First off a big THANKS to the organizers Kevin and Michelle from Kalavida Surf Shop for putting on a wonderful event full of events, food, and entertainment.

Last year I attended this race with a mere 28 or so paddlers. Most of us were on all arounder type boards and hadn't a clue about racing SUP but greatly enjoyed the two events. I managed to come out as Queen of Kalamalka. This year I was back to defend my title but proved to be very different with the sport growing at a rapid speed the field more than doubled. I believe there were about 70 or so paddlers out on the courses. There was a recreational league and a competitive one. The competitive racers were racing with high speeds, with a good set of skills, technique, and strategy. We were all out there having tons of fun and trying to get crowned King and Queen of Kalmalka!

There were three different races, all testing different skills on a SUP and all counted towards the final goal of becoming crowned. I brought the board that I have been racing the Tuesday Night Deep Cove races on this year, my NEW 12'6 X 23.5.. it's fast but it does come with some consequences if one is not careful as it can also be quite unstable, and harder turn around tight corners due to its narrowness and instability. Thank you Starboard and Trident Sports for the use of this awesome board and the growing support! I must say I was a little nervous to use the board for the short course as there were lots of turns and there could have been some bumps etc. I know I can paddle that board well on my own in flat water but wasnt too confident on my abilities to turn etc on it in a crowd with some bumps.. I do have to say for racing I love this board!

On the beach with Starboard flag

Short Course:

I surprised myself here. I used the cross bow turning method, went out hard to get infront of the crowd, stayed on my board and just felt so strong and confident that I started passing some guys, then some more and without really realizing it finished the course amongst the top males... really it was a good confident booster for me especially heading up to the yukon this week and paddling the Yukon river... It made me feel like I could do it even more.

racing around the buoys on the short course

Sprint Course:

Here we had to use a 12' or shorter board...I was scrambling to find a board I liked and then Beau and Dale from WA were kind enough to lend me their 12' board. It looked like a goodie... and that it was. It was sort of like SUP cross. We had three people at the line, it was a sprint to the buoy. The fun part was you could turn around the bouy in either direction (causing mayhem) and finish with a quick sprint to the beach. Somehow our heat was pretty much the same twice in a row... hmmm but i managed to get out in front quick and avoid the chaos of the turn... There was one run where I had a true brain fart and forgot how to turn which in the end saved me. As I was gathering my thoughts about turning I drifted away from the bouy and was found on the outside of the chaos near the buoy, allowing for a quick escape back to the beach. I managed to pull out in front in the final heat for another win!

start of sprint course

Long Course:

The long course is what it is all about... This lake is gorgeous and the distance tough but very satisfying! I was back on my starboard New. I won't lie, when we arrived at the start I was nervous... it was choppy out there... everyone was so excited for the downwinder and I was peeing my pants... hoping I wouldn't fall off my board too many times.... The start was choppy but Andrew helped me out and told me to stay wide as the rec class got bunched up by the buoy turn.. I managed to stay out of any crashes and up right through the riviera and along the entire lake. It was actually quite fun and the little chop kept me on my toes and made for the time to pass quickly! I spent the first third of the race catching the other 12'6 guys until Beau and I were leading the pack. I think he got tired of me and took off and I couldn't catch him again... I managed to come in as a the 2nd 12'6 board overall and thereforesolidying my overall win as Queen! I felt great throughout the entire paddle down the lake... I used NUUN as my hydration (my fav)

crossing the riviera on the long course

The points were tabulated and Norm and I were crowned! Also a big congrats to Jen D and Kristin T for their awesome performances out there rounding out the top females and Beau and Stu R on the men's side...

Here are some pictures from ANDREW click HERE

Now its up to the north we go... for the 24 hour of light mountain bike race and my attempt to SUP the Yukon River from Whitehorse to Dawson.

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

train, play, train....more playing..getting ready for expeditions and races!

2011-06-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

Lots of fun things on the horizon and therefore there's been a lot of playing (or training I suppose some would call it).

The Kalamalka Lake Classic SUP race in Vernon June 18-19
The 24 hours of light Mountain Bike Race June 25-26
Paddling the Yukong River Whitehorse-Dawson (see tab above) approx June 27-July 3rd
Raid the North Extreme 6 day non stop adventure race with Yogaslackers July 23-31st
Vancouver SUP race Aug 7th

Tuesday Night Paddling Races in Deep Cove have been awesome for getting a hard paddle in and especially with more and more people coming out on SUPs. I think we started the year off with about 4 or so of us (which is what it kind of maxed out at last year:)) and now there are some 14 or so people coming out to race the Tuesday Night Paddling races on SUPs. It is super fun especially since Mike and I have been battling it out each week which has provided for some fun entertainment, a hard workout and awesome commaderie. Thanks to Trident Sports/Starboard for providing me with a super slick and speedy board (The New) without I might have to work even harder to keep myself in the running out front:)

I am really looking forward to trying out my new Kialoa Paddle when it comes...

I've also been getting out on the board Monday nights before teaching SUP Fitness classes. Come out on Monday night 7-8pm to the Cove and try it out... It is a totally different way of getting a full body work out while enjoying the fresh air and peacefulness of the water.

While not on the board I am on the bike loads... Commuting all over the city due to my style of work and then again riding on the trails on the weekends and some week nights! I am so stoked on mountain biking these days since I got my free ride bike (kona minxy).

The shore although still harsh, technical, and physical... it is not as intimidating as before. I love my new found confidence on the BIG bike and look forward to the day I start huckin'..OH YEAH:)

Running used to be my main gig, loved it and still do, but it is difficult sometimes to fit it all in and especially when events are coming up that are long and specific. Although I am still getting out for runs they are short and kind of a filler at the moment... When I return from WHitehorse it will be full on as I prepare for Raid the North Extreme, where I will be racing with team Gearjunkies/Yogaslackers.

I just love multisporting so much.. There is something amazing about being able to paddle super well but then hit the trails hard on the mtn bike or go for a long run and then climb up some rock or hit up the pool for a swim... I'm all about it these days...I just need a couple of more hours in a day and a couple of more days in a week to fit it all in :)

But for now,

paddle paddle paddle..... bike bike bike...
Kalamalka Lake and Yukon here I come!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Ridin' and Paddlin': Campbell River, Deep Cove, Pemberton!

2011-05-30T13:46:00.000-07:00

CAMPBELL RIVER LONG WEEKEND
7 of us risked the ferry line ups and the potential of rainier/cooler weather for the long weekend and headed over to Campbell River/Quadra Island for the weekend. Now, we have biked a ton on the island but always on Cumberland trails (which are fabulous). Andrew and I were into heading to a new place and although I've passed through Campbell River a number of times I've never actually stopped and checked it out...

We stayed at the Elk Falls Campgroud about 2km from the center of town and about 3km from the ferry to Quadra Island. Saturday morning/afternoon we biked right from camp and headed up the Dean Martin trail towards the Snowden Mtn trails. We had some minor navigational oopsies but made it to the trail head of aligator and then all the way to the other end of the park to cheschire cat and back through lower deliverance and back the correct way down dean martin and elk falls... It turned out to be a great fast and flowy 5.5 hour ride.

The next day we explored Quadra Island on bikes. We were all newbies on this island and just kind of took a shot at some trails. We managed to find ourselves on a little bit of an epic hike a bike hiking trail... all fun and adventurous though we all came out with big smiles on our faces and really hungry. Nonetheless, after the grueling hike a bike we found a great little restaurant on the ocean had some lunch and proceeded to rebecca's spit where we threw rocks, lounged and enjoyed the afternoon!

Our final day in Campbell River we drove to the parking lot at the Snowden trails and rode from there. We rode Vlad's trail, Tax trail and three pigs.. All super fun trails with the right amount of technical excitement.

All in all some really fun trails over in Campbell river and really different than what we have here on the shore. It was a good warm up for the next weekend where Andrew and I will be racing the Nimby Fifty mountain bike race.

DEEP COVE TUESDAY NIGHT RACE
This past Tuesday was good fun. We had flat waters, a longer course and some fast folks out. We paddled hard and felt sore at the end... my kind of race.... I paddled the Starboard New and rocked it on the flat waters of that evening. It was a tough battle between Mike D and I.. he is strong and fast and someone to watch out for in the SUP scene!

NIMBY FIFTY RACE REPORT and ride
This is one tough race, it is long, it is technical and there is a crap load of climbing on switchback singletrack!
The weaher turned out perfect with a little rain the days before to dampen the sandy trails and a slight overcast to keep things from steaming up too much on race day. I always get a little stressed at the start of mountain bike races as I feel the pressure of singletrack riding and the need and want to pass and be passed fairly taxing and difficult.
So, I decided to start further back in the pack but kind of forgot that it was a road sprint leading to a long logging road climb into a short single track descent to more logging road climbing and then the lengthy singletrack ascent... I placed myself a little off especially due to a chain mishap right before the beginning of the long climb and found myself stuck in the wrong place for awhile.... it was a little frustrating as usually I climb hard to make up for my slower downhill but you know i am getting WAYYYY stronger on the descents and loving them all the more for it! WOot woot... On the switchback climb I felt stuck... I am not confident in my mtn bike racing skills to just say "excuse me I need to pass" so I just let it be until a good opportunity arose.. I felt this slow ascent slowed me down but at least when we reached the top I passed some people and the right people passed me and I got to ride one of the most exhilareting trails "overnight senstion" on my own with no stress and LOVED IT and rode it all! woohoo! I was pretty pumped from that which kept me fueled for the next grueling section of the course. This figure eight loop thing with tons of hike a bike (at least for the likes of me)... but again was pretty pumped to ride all of meat grinder etc trails no problems.. I even got a "nice line" from two guys I passed on the "DOWNHILL"... haha but alas my luck or skill would run out on the last huge steep rock slab.. I freaked mid way hit the brakes supermaned over my handle bars and watched my bike bounce handle bars over seat a couple of times on the rock and into the bush.. when I finally picked myself up and grabbed my bike it was twisted and something was dangling which shouldnt have been dangling.. my heart sank... but a nice man behind helped me out quickly and told me it was just my front gear switch and could ride but without switching gears... hooray I didn't have to run the last part! I got myself together and managed to finish off the last bit of trail on bike and then laughed at myself while pedalling on the road totally spinning out in my little gear... FRUSTRATING... haha.. In the end I beat my time from last year and it was a longer course.. I AM IMPROVING... and really thats all that counts in a race like that for me..

WICKED race! Totally recommend it if your into that kind of thing... 5 of us eventually headed back to Nairn Falls, enjoyed the falls, a campfire and general good camping fun times.

The following day Andrew, Ned and I headed back to Pemby trails and hit up a really new trail called Rusty Trombone... not even on the map yet! FUN,.. its tough with steep rock slabs and loose sand and some super steep sections..all good but I think ridin nimby up is wayyy better than the road... just a helpful hint!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Tour De Indian Arm: Deep Cove May 15th

2011-05-18T14:16:00.000-07:00

Really fast, relatively smooth race this year. Last year this was my first SUP race with only 4 other racers. This year there were around 8-10 racers on the SUP and tons of different lengths and types of SUPs out there. The sport is definitely catching on here at Deep Cove Canoe and Kayaks.

I was on the Starboard NEW, a 12'6'' x 23.5 board. It is fast but also very tippy. I was a little nervous to race on that board as I know how choppy it can get out on that particular course. On a nice sunny day there can be tons of boat traffic which causes funny and unexpected waves. Luckily for me, the weather actually cooperated. The rainy/cloudy weather didn't invite too many boaters out on the water and limited the rise of the wind that usually occurs from the heat of the sun. These calm waters created a fast and smooth race with only occasional boat waves (some were quite steep and a little nerve racking but I managed well and stayed standing on my board).

Right form the beginning Kelvin, Mike, and Dale shot out in front and I was in the chase. I never looked back and didn't know how far behind the next person was but I didn't really care as my goal was to catch the other guys in front. There were times where I could feel myself slowly getting closer and the reality of catching them real but just as my excitement would peak the distance would then stretch once more. This was my entertainment the whole race as i wasn't close enough to anyone else to have a chat with nor really battle it out with someone. It kept my mind focused on teh right thing (moving forward)

came out in 4th and 1st female and teh first 12'6'' board over the line. There was a great bbq in the rain and some fun draw prizes... one of my fav winner prizes BEER! Results are here and I didn't get any pics... BOO...

heading to the island this weekend to explore campbell river and quadra island on mtn bikes and hopefully some SUPin...

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

On the SUP at Lake Whatcom

2011-05-08T19:10:00.000-07:00

Before Race Photo by: Katja

For this race I paddled a board from Deep Cove Canoe and Kayaks, it was the Race(12'6'' x 26.5) board from Starboard. The Race is a really great board as it is fast on the flat but can handle the chop as well. I feel stable and in control when the wind picks up and feel smooth and quick when the water is crystal flat. I am still a fan of the 12'6'' boards but am up for trying out some more 14 foot boards as I love the longer races.

I got a ride up with good friend Gary and met up with Johnny, Ben, and Eric at Old Town Cafe in Bellingham. Awesome little breakfast place right in downtown Bellingham. The rain was just pissing down hard all morning so I was glad that we were heading to a paddling race over any other kind of sport that morning!

After the sign in and getting ready we were off. I was on the short course with some others 5 miles up and down the first section of the lake. It was choppy at the beginning but as we headed away from the end of the lake it got flatter until we reached the turn around, the waves picked up a little and the board was getting louder with the thumps from the waves but I felt solid on the board. As we turned around the markers and headed back I caught a few little rides but mostly kept working hard until the finish! Fun race and beautiful lake (even in the rain)

Following the awards we headed back into Bellingham to have lunch at one of my favorite spots Boundary Bay Pub and checkd out the local Saturday Market (lots of fun things to check out at the market from food to jewellery...). After a stop at REI we were back home in Vancouver! Fun event even in the rain!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Comox Snow to Surf Relay: Fig Rolls Racing capture Gold

2011-05-06T11:07:00.000-07:00

Fig Rolls did it again. We managed to pull off a gold chocolate medal and place 11th overall out of 176 teams.

The relay is a nine person team + much needed support driver.
The race consists of a downhill skier, nordic skier, 2 runners, mtn biker, kayaker, road biker and 2 canoeist in 2 canoe!

Andrew and I decided to race the canoe leg again this year as we had so much fun last year!
We were surprised to put the canoe on the water in 10th place... The current and wind were strong but waves minimal. We were hoping for a few more waves to put to use our canoe which was sturdier than other top teams in marathon canoes. Thank you Burnaby Lake for the lend of the canoe, it was fab. Last year we had people in marathon canoes tipping into the water all around us due to the waves but this year it was just an all out sprint with difficult steering due to the funny wind and current... Andrew did a stellar job steering the boat and I did as much as I could to keep the boat powering forward. We almost caught the boat in front of us but didn't and in the meantime a boat behind us managed to catch and motor right past us close to the end. Oh well, it was a fun finish nonetheless with our three boats sprinting into the marina all together. I've decided that I am really enjoying the canoe (probably stemming from my love of the SUP)

Lina and Andrew photo by: Paul Palfreyman

Paul put up some pictures on his blog HERE

During the week I have been busy working as a TOC and at Deep Cove Canoe and Kayaks, trail running, SUPing (on my Starboard), and mtn biking! All wonderful things.

A little promo: head to DEEP COVE MONDAY NIGHT for my SUPfitness classes. They are from 7-8pm. Tons of fun and a great work out!

We also figured out that we are heading to a small (china standards of small which is about 1 million people) village Yongchuan near Chongqing China with Maple Leaf Schools where I will be teaching some grade subjects and Andrew will be teaching ESL. We will truly get to experience chinese culture. We are both very excited about this opportunity and look forward to exploring, discovering, and enjoying a different part of the world.

Bring on the Adventures

Live, Love, Laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Easter Weekend in WA

2011-04-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

Great little weekend mountain biking, visiting with friends, and paddleboarding!

The border wait was horrendous on Friday morning and our plan to mtn bike in Bellingham quickly disseminated as the wait lines were growing to over 3 hours wait time. We are growing increasingly smarter realizing that our precious free time is to be used wisely which does not include sitting at the border on Good Friday of the Easter weekend. After Andrew and I picked up the SUP(Surf race, Starboard) I was using for a race this weekend from Deep Cove, and had a doughnut from Honey's we met up with 5 other friends and decided to ride around the Delta watershed trails instead of waiting in the border line. We managed to ride for 2.5 hours in there and got thru the border in about 30 minutes. We celebrated by heading to the Boundary Bay Pub for awesome beer and food. Kala, Marg and Andy stayed in Bellingham while Paul, Andrew and I headed down toward Everett. We camped at a great little site in Wenberg. Saturday morning I entered the Jetty Island, 5 mile paddle race in Everett! The day was beautiful and calm. There weren't as many SUP paddlers as I hoped but nonetheless had a great little paddle around the island and came in 1st overall within the SUPers. I paddled the Surf Race, Starboard from Deep Cove and it was perfect for this race. Quick and steady as the water was fairly calm around the island!
Following the race we headed to Olympia where we met Chris and Kathleen. They showed us around their local trails in the Capital Forest. Our 3 hour ride turned into a 5 hour ride and it was fantastic, it was a great first big ride of the season and we were all feeling it a little the following morning! Such smooth, fast trails was a nice change from the tough technical trails we have here in north vancouver.
The gods decided that two days of sunshine was enough and blessed us with a rainy Sunday morning. We decided to walk around the town of Olympia and noticed lots of good coffee shops, antique stores and pubs!
We stopped in Seattle and rode around Colinade bike park. A cool little park biult up underneath the I 5 highway... Perfect for a rainy NW day!

PICTURES HERE!

Happy Easter

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

My time At Durrand Glacier Coming to an End...

2011-04-14T13:41:00.000-07:00

I have a tough time with endings... Well perhaps it is not an ending but a new beginning? A beginning that involves new friendships, new experiences, and lovely memories! I am heading back to Vancouver in a couple of days after a winter in the backcountry of the Selkirk Mountains.

It is still snowing like crazy but we managed to take advantage of the three days of sun we've had in the last week and a half... Skied the back side of Tumbledown, which means little to anyone who doesn't know the area but it is a beautiful glacier run that is around 3000 feet long... amazing!

We also did an acroyoga photo shoot with the school.

I also taught Florina and Charlotte how to slackline. Due to our location we had to add a spin to the regular barefoot slacklining as the only trees around were above 4 metres of snow... So, it was slacklining Durrand Galcier style: with snowboots!

We are fnishing up our snow cave home/bar today and will sleep in it tonight! Exciting, Florina shotgunned middle penguin for the night (smart lady).

Unfortunately, I also managed to get sick for these last two weeks first with I think a stomach lining bug/acid problems.... I didn't mention it to any of the many doctors around until I had to leave half way through dinner one night and was sitting beside a helpful general practioner who recommended tums etc.. It saved me! Once I cured myself of my stomach pains a sinus/cold infection took its place just to keep things exciting! At least the cold isn't as debilitating as the harsh stomach pains.

Today we painted easter eggs: Lithuanian style (with bees wax and candles!) We have a contest tomorrow....mine are good but not as good as the chef's...bummer for being blessed with athletic abilities rather than art abilities...or is it?!?!?

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Trophy Hut

2011-03-29T09:27:00.000-07:00

I got to spend the first of my two weeks off skiing with 10 good friends for a week in the wild backcountry of Wells Gray Park. It was fabulous... there was sunshine, good turns, amazing food, laughter, hot saunas, big days and just lots of good times.

I am back in Van for a week before I head back up to Durrand for my last two weeks of teaching the girls. Since in the city I have already enjoyed mtn biking, trail running, beers on commercial, sushi, and coffee shops.... all fabulous things!

Some Links to pictures from people on the trip
Tom Pictures
Andrew and Lina Pictures

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

C'est La Vie

2011-03-17T10:33:00.000-07:00

This week was exciting for the school. We got our school uniforms: Marmot fleece sweatshirts with our school name printed on the sleeve! Florina finished her distance education French 11 course! YAY! So, we had a french party to celebrate complete with sparkling apple juice, marshmallows, and salt and vinegar potato chips!

It really has been snowing non stop for a week here... good for skiing in the trees but not so good for the shovellers... we did however get out everyday on snowshoes, skis, and snow cave building.. I also have been doing tons of yoga and mini crossfit workouts inside! We also have been practicing new acrobatic movements and our regular acro routine! So, still keeping fit in creative ways, and still enjoying life in the mountains, and teaching! We have spring next week and I get to be a guest at another Hut... Trophy Hut. It will be nice to ski tour and catch up with friends!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Another new week...

2011-03-12T08:05:00.000-08:00

Every Saturday here it kind of feels like summer camp. Throughout the week you see guests build bonds or enemy lines:) among old and new friends. It is a beautiful thing chatting, listening, learning throughout the week and then Saturday morning comes along and the heli swoops away guests 5 at a time... sometimes there are sighs of relief, little high fives, or backroom bets on who is going to get the front seat and other times (most of the time), hugs, last minute email exchanges, tears (i have yet to witness these), but excitement on having met new people and making those connections. This week was stellar, the folks were kind, helpful, funny, and just plain ol nice. The guests even performed a week end skit last night for us describing the different events that happened throughout the week.

Charlotte, Florina, and I also performed our first official acro routine in front of the guests. We created a 4 minute three person routine to Walk of Life by the Dire Straits. We had about one week of practice learning different movements and one week of putting it together in a show we could perform.. We have a little space up in the school house beside the mini bouldering cave where we use the crashmats to break our falls and the carpet for a mental safety net... so this was our first time trying it all out on concrete with only yoga mats for protection... I am very proud to say we nailed the entire routine

School Field Trip:

school website here
We also had our first school field trip this week. The three of us joined in on the group heading to the other hut, The Moloch Hut. We left Sunday climbing up onto Eagle Peak and Mt Fang...and returned Monday late afternoon following a trip up to the top of Mt Graham. I was proud of the fitness of our little school. The three of us managed to stay in front of the line on the skin ups and enjoyed playing catch up if needed weaving through the guests to retain our spots back in the front where we enjoyed going a little bit faster. We skied some pretty steep and beautiful lines and I must say I only got scared once after I was told not to fall off the end... all I could think about was falling off the end.... haha... gotta love the way our minds work sometimes.

This week due to a lot of snow fall from Wednesday onwards, after a failed attempt for an afternoon ski with the school we succumbed to working on our snowcave.... it is going to be quite something with different hall ways and rooms. We created the snowcave from a massive snowbank along the deck and one of the pathways... I look forward to sharing more pictures in the future... I must say it is quite the work out digging out the trenches with our little avi shovels.... Along with snowcave expansion, we also worked our muscles shoveling off the debris from the roof.. Due to lots of snow and warm weather the build up snow on the roof quit bonding and came crashing down at sporatic moments throughout the week. Don't worry everyone was safe!

This will be our last week before we all head out for March Break: me to the Trophy Hut for a week of backcountry skiing throughout Wells Grey with Andrew and friends and the ladies to Whistler to visit with cousins etc....

keep smilin'

live, love, laugh,....DREAM!

lina

Creative ways to have fun and keep our daily dose of Exercise despite harsh weather...

2011-03-03T18:20:00.000-08:00

When the weather is being difficult most people would succum and stay inside, lay on the couch, and lounge but we at the Durrand Glacier School of HIgher Education have stayed motivated and active through creativity and youthful love for life!

1. We have been exploring with acroyoga moves and are getting pretty good considering our short amount of time practicing together. Watch out Cirque du Soleil

2. We have been improving our tricks off our local cliffs on snowshoes.... The three of us breaktrail up and over the knoll and practice on some smaller cliffs along the way. Once we hit the big ones we throw ourselves off with style and ease! Vids to come to show a snapshot of our raw talent for now a pic!

3. Some days we can't escape the snow shovelling.. but I decided I really like it for its meditative and repetitive nature... Its nice to be outside and not have to think just push, throw, and scope.

4. Of course our minds are constantly being opened and knowledge seeping in....

Life is good
school website clich HERE

live, love, laugh,..DREAM!
lina

skis, bikes, trails, and more skis

2011-02-27T18:04:00.000-08:00

life is pretty great these days.

I love my husband

I love my job, I get to inspire, motivate and teach two fabulous ladies!

I love the mountains and get to live in the heart of the selkirk mountains for the winter

I love my family and got to visit with my dad during a trip he organized to Vail, CO

I love exercising and exploring the outdoors.... during my 24 hour break in Vancouver I went on two trail runs and a mtn bike ride... I got to ski for 3 days in Vail and well I live in the mecca of the outdoors for the winter.

I love food...and I get cooked delicious meals everyday

I love meeting new people... I get to meet up to 16 new people from around the world every week

okay I will stop now!

I am still organizing my spring/summer as to races, trips, expedition... will keep you posted..until then happy living!

live, love, laugh,,...DREAM!

lina

How much is too much snow?

2011-02-20T08:25:00.000-08:00

Feb 12-19 at the Durrand Glacier Lodge:

Andrew came for the week! YAY!

When it snows as much as it did:

you do some creative things... and some not so creative things....

we shovelled a lot of snow.....
we worked hard up at the school house..

we skied thigh deep powder...

we also did some more extreme snowshoe cliff jumping.... I improved onto flips!

we began construction of a snow cave house/disco/happy hour bar....

We ate a lot of delicious food

The blue skies finally came out for our last day before my one week off and Andrew's first week done.

a link to some of Andrew's photos: HERE

I am off to Vail Colorado to spend some time wit my dad and ski some more!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Durrand Glacier School of Higher Education

2011-02-09T15:47:00.000-08:00

Another morning ski tour to start the day off! It was think fog until we reached the peak of moonhill and then it was sunny for our descent.

Check out the blog for the school. Florina put it together!

http://durrandglacierschoolofhighereducation.blogspot.com

live, love, laugh,..DREAM!
lina

Week Two at The Durrand Glacier

2011-02-08T20:16:00.000-08:00

We are working hard up here at the Durrand Glacier School. We have added three more subjects to our days of school. We now have bio12, french11, english11, socials11, and physics11... phew... and of course PE (pretty important). I am learning lots, and it is all confirming that teaching is what I really like to do. It really is a great job for me. Also living in the mountains, surrounded by nature is cleansing, and refreshing. It is not perfect as I am missing my other half (which I think about all the time)...

On the weekend we got out with the guests and hit up a nice loop on the Durrand Glacier. We stopped by a natural ice cave (the mouth of the glacier). It is spectacular... we plan to bring our ice skates on a ski tour to the ice cave and skate in the cave...

This morning we did a ski tour before school and it was a great way to start the day!

I love the mountains!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Updates on fitness, school, and the mountain life

2011-02-02T16:12:00.000-08:00

All is well up here in the selkirk mountains...

school has started out well and strong and we are getting through things at a lightning pace as we love to get in a solid couple of hours of PE (ski touring)... It is so nice to be able to put your skis on and in less than an hour have some epic powder turns back.

I also have a mission with the boulder cage in the school room... I have lost my bouldering skills and now have set myself some goals to get it back....

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

I am a school teacher at the Selkirk Mountain Experience...

2011-01-31T17:39:00.000-08:00

After experiencing my first helicopter ride in the fog (cool but kind of scary...), and skiing two amazing ski touring days with spectacular views and amazing pow, I was ready to settle into my job.. the thing that brought me to this very special place in the mountains...

School started today.. We finished module 2.1 today in french, organized the school room which mostly consisted of intoxicating ourselves with chalkboard paint while we painted one of the doors and part of the table... PE today was snowshoeing and ice arena building which consisted of snow shovelling a ton of snow (awesome work out... with a purpose).. we are building a curling rink/hockey rink/figure skating rink.... surrounded by snowy peaks....

I was worried about my fitness level a little before I came out here..as I knew I wouldn't be able to do my regular routine such as running/biking/crossfit/kayaking/etc but I am no longer worried... I get to ski tour, snowshoe, shovel, skate, do yoga, and do a lina version of crossfit plus much more!

all smiles on this lady!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Heading to the Selkirk Mountains

2011-01-26T18:14:00.000-08:00

a quick update:

Had some fun with my dad. Showed him a little teaser of some of my favorite winter sports:downhill sking, xc country skiing and snowshoeing both in the sunshine and in the rain! haha

I have a free ride bike, love it and can't stop thinking about biking.... yes trails! I've been hitting up the local trails with Andrew on foot and bike lately in the warmish weather we have been getting in Vancouver.

ALso have been still trying to figure out what I want to focus on in the summer re: races/trips/expeditions...I love everything too much: AR and SUP are high up there on my list and I have been drooling over some races/adventures concerning these two sports (luckily AR includes mtn biking, running, and kayaking)...

I am in Revelstoke and making my way to the Durrand Glacier Lodge where I will be working and living for the next couple of months.

Check out the Selkirk Mountain Experience... and be JEALOUS!

live, love, laugh,..DREAM!
lina

Pacific Northwest: the multisport heaven...

2011-01-16T22:05:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was grand.
Thursday evening Andrew and I met up with Ben and Johnny for what used to be our regular thursday day night paddle from Strathcona docks... cool/calm and gorgeous...

I got to enjoy yoga friday night with a good friend in a stylish downtown studio on the east side...

Saturday four of us headed to Mt Baker for a ski tour and jump practice. The snow was falling hard which just forced us to practice our tree skiing in deep fluffy pow.... not complaining one bit!

Old enough to know better (Mt Baker Jan 2011) from Andrew Dye on Vimeo.

Sunday I enjoyed a run and mtn bike ride on the shore with folks... the run was quite regular just out our door and the ride was on fromme mtn....snowy/icy conditions but ideal for some laughs, frustrations and good times with good friends...

Pretty awesome to live in a place where it is possible to do most outdoor sports anytime of the year... As long as you dress for the weather and have a positive attitude it all can be done!

I am still working on my 2011 athletic goals... I have a couple of things in mind but have to fine tune, talk to some folks, etc... I am looking for something different, something exciting, something adventurous!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

video from New Years Backcountry ski days!

2011-01-09T19:20:00.001-08:00

Thanks Andrew for putting this together so well!

Pemberton New Year 2010 from Andrew Dye on Vimeo.

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

The Holidays....always an adventure!

2011-01-03T16:08:00.000-08:00

I am going to be a little lazy right now and use my talented friends to help me share my recent adventures.

Andrew and I travelled to the UK for the Christmas portion of the holidays. And spent the last three days backcountry skiing from Pemberton around the Duffey Lake road mountains.

In short:

there were many cancelled flights; impromptu New York City highlights including a run around central park, a sprint in the Edinburgh airport, mountain biking on snow and ice in Sheffield, midnight mass in a 1010 year old church, running in the new forest with ponies, dutch bicycling, squatter restaurant, and dutch old man bar.

Sheffield mtn biking

Time Square

1010 year old church

Amsterdam

Check Andrew's blog for Europe Fun!

And on the Duffey:

We hit up Rhor, Joffre Shoulder and Armchair Glacier (Cayoosh). SUN, powder, lots of climbing, pillows, and good friends!

Picture by Paul Palfreyman

Check Paul's pictures for New Years Backcountry Ski Adventures Duffey Lake Road.

Live, Love, Laugh,...DREAM!
Lina

Singing Pass Adventures

2010-12-12T21:16:00.001-08:00

We got tons of exercise the way I like it (outdoors) on Saturday as well as ski some awesome pow in return. We spent 4 hours up the singing pass and then up to Cowboy ridge before we got to take off our skins in preparation to head downwards. From all the hard work it was payback time and score some sweet turns in return... so worth it. The weather was pleasant and the snow plentiful. I love the long days of hard work and good fun. Yay for adventures in the snow.

oh and we got our christmas tree...i love the holiday spirit!

Live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Bikes and Skis on the island

2010-12-06T10:09:00.000-08:00

Love it when you go away for the weekend with a car packed full of gear...

This weekend a bunch of us headed over to the island to play with some island folk... being vancouver island we brought bikes and skis... This event is usually in November and is called the Mud Ride but this year I suppose we could have called it the snow ride...

We got out on our bikes on a sunny saturday afternoon and began to pedal in snow up the Cumberland trails... The conditions were actually pretty perfect for riding... Most of the mud was either frozen or covered by a thin layer of snow... the sun was shining and friends were abound... It was a ride full of single track, laughs, hard work and chili hot chocolate to finish it off!

After riding or any type of outdoor exercise food and drinks are necessary and a feast is what we had....

SUnday we voted to head to Mt Washington and try out the hill to practice our sweet turns.. Again, the conditions were pretty perfect... Andrew, Paul and I ventured through moguls and trees, and played with daring speeds (well I was trying to catch Paul the whole and so really I was the one peaking my speed limits)... ALthough a fab day on the hill with beautiful views etc...it is no backcountry skiing, the sweat, the bush, route finding, rivers, etc... it definitely solidified my love for backcountry skiing... I love the turns but I love the adventure of backcountry skiing even more I think!

Another Video By Andrew!

Comox Mud Ride 2010 from Andrew Dye on Vimeo.

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

It's Snow Time

2010-11-22T13:58:00.000-08:00

This weekend I was very sad to hear that the Fall Beast Adventure race was cancelled. I was super stoked to race AR again and even more stoked to race and spend time with good friend Megan. I look forward to racing a beast race next year as AR friends and awesome athletes put on some great events.

Well, I got to at least do one of those things..

Megan, Ann and I headed up to Cypress for our first XC ski of the season.... Its always hilarious/tiring the first day out... XC is a true full body workout... and if you have been lazy about waxing skis (like me) and the snow conditions aren't perfect than it adds to your resistance training as well. It was loads of fun and look forward to getting out more on the skinny skis

Sunday I switched to my fatter skis and headed out to Mt Zoa with Andrew, Paul, and Andy. We definitely skied some pow. Check out the sweet video Andrew made:

Zoa Ski Tour, November 2010 from Andrew Dye on Vimeo.

It was good times, great exercise, decent pow and turns but gosh was it cold.... -15 C

YAY for snow!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Sweet Turns

2010-11-15T14:22:00.000-08:00

This weekend, two friends and I headed to Steep Creek to check out the early season snow situation off the Duffey Lake Road. We managed to ski on snow the entire way into camp. It took us about 3 times as long but we enjoyed the pleasant weather and adventurous climbing, over, under, through, tree trunks, rocks, and streams. I managed to get one ski through the lake by accident... oops but all was well just some wet skins..

Sunday we ventured up through the forest to the clearing... it was tough going through the forest but made for some fun route making as there were more than normal amounts of obstacles in the way. Up high on the knoll our first descent was YES through POWDER...pretty impressive turns for early season...Unfortunately our second run proved to be a little noisy as we scrapped some rocks that were hiding underneath the snow... but managed some good turns still.. The adventure continued throughout the day but we had SUN, we had SNOW, and we had SMILES...

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

SUP Surfin' in Tofino....

2010-11-10T09:40:00.000-08:00

This past weekend Andrew, Suzanne, Jas, Julia, and myself headed to Tofino for some surf sessions and relaxation. The weather report was showing rain but when water is the sport you are playin in rain doesn't really matter anyways! I was pretty excited to try out SUP surfin again. I got pretty stoked in California at Battle of the Paddle from all the surf sessions... I also realized how much learning I have ahead of me (exciting stuff, learning is fun!) inorder to be competitive in the surf type races... I want to be good!...

I borrowed the Starboard Whopper from Trident Sports. I remember surfing this board in california and it was fun and stable and great for learning to SUP surf... I was pretty stoked to get a lend for the weekend. THANK YOU Trident Sports. The board proved to be perfect for the conditions and for me. It is wide and stable and big which made going out past the break much easier and catching waves fun(after getting knocked down a bunch....practice and persistence is key to learning).

The five of stayed in a beautiful hostel at the end of Tofino (The Whalers On the Point IH Hostel) Saturday morning we headed to South Chesterman Beach and played in the surf for several hours. There were 3 whitewater kayakers, myself on the SUP and one surfer... We are a diverse bunch of friends! Check out the video that Andrew put together!

Tofino, November 2010 from Andrew Dye on Vimeo.

The rest of the day on Saturday was spent indoors due to lots and lots of rain... I ended up meeting up with my good friend Jessie, A Ukee born and raised, a killer surfer and painter!

Sunday was tougher, stronger and bigger waves. I found it really tough to get past the break, but was enjoying it all until my paddle got stuck under my board in a tumbling crash and the strong sea ripped it out of my hands. I thought it would have floated to shore as the tide was coming in but it was never seen again :(... ah well, you win some you loose some!

I look forward to some more surf sessions... For now I see snow on the shore mountains and my feet are starting to itch for ski boots, skis and the white powdery stuff!

live, love, laugh,..DREAM!

lina

Halloween adventures in the city and on the trails

2010-11-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

Fun weekend playin around the city. I don't generally enjoy weekends in the city as much as weekends out in the wild but this weekend had enough variety, excitement, and friends that I definitely enjoyed it and embraced living in the big city.

It began with a run around lynn valley trails. I am lovin' trail running again, re inspired by the Hallowe's Eve trail race last weekend. I love the mud, the technical roots, rocks and steep terrain. The air temperature is about perfect for running: crisp and fresh. After our run Andrew and friends checked out a new little cafe that opened down the street from our place called the PERCH. It has a total east van vibe, good food and cheap drinks. Its nice to be able to WALK to a gathering rather than bike once in awhile. Biking is loads of fun but you can never feel fresh looking after a ride somewhere...

Saturday Kala, Jason, and I went for a killer run on some of the Seymour trails. It included some good technical flattish sections, steep ups and steeper and even more technical descent... the sun was shining, the air was cool, and the trails satisfying. I finished some halloween last minute shopping and then biked over to Angie and Paul's new place on Main street to help them move in. It's nice to have them a little bit closer for some more hangin out time together... Our group of friends are definitely creating an east van clan... YES! Andrew, Mark, and I headed out for ride on the shore before all the halloween celebrations. The rain just began to come down as we were climbing up to the trails. We managed to hit bobsleigh in the light which was grand and then climbed all the way back up to Witches Brew, dreamweaver and Baden Powell to finish it off. The boys managed to make their eyes adjust to the growing darkness but I was struggling at the end and put my lights on for the last section of Baden Powell... it was a good thing as it was my best performance of the day with the lights on.

Saturday night a group of 8 of us were found riding around town in costumes, honking horns and ringing bells, all with smiles on our painted faces and drops of rain hanging from our costumes! We headed to different parties around east vancouver enjoying the halloween vibe!

sunday morning after a well deserved sleep in and wicked post party breakfast created by ANdrew a bunch of us hit up the northshore trails. The boys biked and SJ and I went for around a 2hour run.... sunshine, fun trails, and wicked company equalled a fun way to spent Sunday afternoon in the city!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Lovin' the trails...

2010-10-24T18:18:00.000-07:00

I am consistently trying to balance training/playtime on trails and on the water... I love them both and thankfully a city like Vancouver makes it possible to enjoy the mountains/forests as well as the lovely ocean waters. You can even enjoy them in one day!.

This weekend though Andrew and I spent much of our time playing on the trails, mountains and in the forests. Friday afternoon we headed up to Squamish, after Andrew's bike purchase we enjoyed one of the more popular Squamish mtn bike trails Half Nelson Powerhouse plunge etc combination. We managed to rip around the wet forest for several hours enjoying the mud and fall colours and managed to escape the dooming rains.

We spent the evening with good friends in Whistler (I miss you Whistler!) enjoying the off season deals that Whistler had to offer.

Saturday morning Andrew and I decided to ride around the Cheakamus river/Creekside trails. We enjoyed the little side trails that took us to function junction and rode along Riverside trails...nice little warm up for the major climb of See colors and Puke... There were no colors seen but we did manage to find a bear (why do they have to be so cute!) and thankfully no puke instead just sweat and smiles. The scenery was awesome, lightly powdered alpine mountains with colorful subalpine and some sun to top it all off. We enjoyed the fast flowy Babylon trail minus the random eye poking branches sticking out... and then I got to see how much I have improved in my biking skills by riding tunnel vision a trail that when I lived in Whistler I could barely ride any of it! I can proudly say my improvements were fairly obvious...

Hallow's Eve Half Marathon: northshore style

Andrew and I were lucky enough to represent Steed Cycles at the half marathon trail race on Sunday morning. The sky was holding out with the rain for most of the race, the trails were muddy, rooty and slippery just the way we like'em... I was a little nervous to race as running used to be my forte sport but since becoming obsessed with SUP'in, kayaking, mtn biking , etc there has been less running and less running specific activities on my part. It is always tough racing in a race that in the past you have done well in. Luckily I didn't let it bother me too much and told myself that it was more important to enjoy myself, the trails, and the spirit of the event: and that I did. I had a great run, I felt good (never pushed too hard nor too little) I enjoyed like in the mountain bike my progress on the technical parts of the trail. Its funny, I have almost come full circle in my trail running. I used to pass everyone on the gravel road sections of trail but now I seem to get a little day dreamy on this sections and loose my speed and momentum but am picking it up on the technical. I managed to hold my own because of my technical skills. YES, I am pleased about this as I can also train a little more specific for my running if I found a race I wanted to train for. All in all a fantastic race: the volunteers were grand and I didn't get lost (a more often than I am proud about occurrence). I got my race stoke on again... LOVE IT.. and a big THANK YOU to Kim at STEED CYCLES!

Sorry no photos: the camera was left in the car or forgotten....OOPS.

live, love, laugh,..DREAM!

lina

Winthrop Thanksgiving 2010

2010-10-12T08:55:00.000-07:00

Winthrop last year (video by Megan Rose):

Untitled from Megan Rose on Vimeo.

Winthrop this year:

VIDEO 2010 by ANdrew Dye!

Winthrop 2010 from Andrew Dye on Vimeo.

This is our third year heading to Winthrop for Thanksgiving for some adventurous riding, amazing views, delicious food, and awesome friendships. Whoever thought a place that seems to be like cowboy revival would have such epic mountain biking and bring us back year after year. I must say the word is getting out about the riding here as we saw more people than in the past out rippin' it up on the trails...

Our crew was a little smaller this year and sort of even smaller on most days due to people having to do some extra work/studying (and I wasn't one of them... yipee! for now).

Day 1 we all warmed up on Buck Mountain where the trails are relatively smooth, fast, and fun. We made it back to the car just in time for downpour #1. Kathleen and Angie had to head back indoors to do some work and the boys and I headed for bike ride number 2 of the day - Pipestone Canyon. It was a new route for Andrew, Paul, and I. The present half way up the steep climb was this amazing canyon that appears out of rolling hills. It was amazing, a great chance for me to get a breather in before the rest of the climb. The descent was rocky and more technical than Buck but beautiful. You descend into farm fields and then ride through forest and below the canyons... Winthrop, was not disappointing.

Day 2 typically our monster day of adventure and mountain biking. We woke up to rain, felt a little casual so decided on a 10 mile or so loop. We were up for trying a new area to keep our sense of adventure perky. Well, an adventure we got. We headed towards Tiffany mountain, about an hour drive or so from the house, up a really long logging road. We decided to park the car lower down in case we wanted to extend the loop form its original route on the map. The temperature dropped from 15 degrees to 10 since we left the house.. brrr.. you could feel the winter air not too far off. We started to climb, first on the road, a little descent and then climb, lunch, single track climb, hike a bike climb.... until we reached our second pass. A little descent through a forest that suffered from a forest fire years back we found ourselves at a junction. A little exploration eventually took us up what I thought was a cliff... minutes later I found myself with the others hike a biking on the side of the cliff.hmmm... I thought this little exciting hike would lead us to the down... the wind was picking up and the air becoming frigid... but alas we reached the pass to find out we were to go up around the ridge to the other side... oh yeah... really I love this stuff.. it reminds me of adventure racing which I love... so off we went on the side of the ridge most often then not pushing our bikes up the sandy, exposed slope. We finally reached Whistler Pass, the wind was fierce and my body chilled quite quickly.. We were off on the longer descent down to our cars.. this trail had obviously not been used in quite some time except for maybe a couple of hikers? last week? the trail consisted of a faint trail through hip high grass... it was interesting and different and well my favorite word: adventurous. I was feeling very very cold so was trying to just make it down before the chill through my body got any worse, my feet and hands were already numb. Happy to say we made it back to the car in good form and ready for beer and chips.

Day 3 Cedar Creek

We wanted to try a new trail not too far from the house. It was to be an out and back to a mountain pass. We didn't have all day on Monday as we needed to get back to our respective homes but the sun was shining in good Winthrop form, nothing better to do than go play outside in such fabulous weather. The start of the trail was steep but fairly smooth so rideable... we made it to the waterfall sweaty but happy. From the waterfall onwards for a good while the trail is steep, rocky, muddy and fairly difficult to ride up (well for me at least), I got some more practice at pushing my bike. Kathleen decided to stash her bike and just walk up... At some point Paul was feeling tired, and prob tired of pushing his bike so decided to head back down to take some pics along the way in the valley. Kathleen kept walking and Chris, Andrew, and I continued up the trail with our bikes in hopes of some smoother trails (like the book told us there would be)... happily fun single track trail appeared and into the valley we rode, the forest opened up and the mountain tops could be seen. The meadows were gorgeous. Due to time constraints Andrew and Chris made the decision to turn around, and head back down what we thought would be a slow and tricky descent. To my surprise the descent was awesome! totally rideable minus some very short sketchy rocks. It was fast and fun! We will have to come back and tackle this trail to the top next year, its a good one!

live, love, laugh,..DREAM!

lina

My Stand Up Story and how it brought me to the Battle of the Paddle: California

2010-10-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

Stand Up Paddleboarding is my new little passion. I discovered it fall 2008 at Santa Claus beach, a beach just south of Santa Barabara CA. Andrew and I were on our first road trip down the west coast famous highway 101. We were chillin with my teammate Daniel from Yogaslackers and met up with some camp staff I used to work with in MN. They introduced SUPin' to us and I loved it. Andrew's first experience involved paddling side by side with a dolphin, which is pretty awesome in itself. I was on my way to a 6 month trip to South America which involved moutain biking, racing and hiking and soon forgot about this neat little sport I tried until I returned to Vancouver and saw that Deep Cove Canoe and Kayaks had started renting some SUP boards. I went out a couple of times and knew this was something I would be involved with. It was a combination of many of my passions (balance from slacklining, full body fitness, and the outdoors)... I needed to know more.... The summer came and left and well so did the winter and school and skiing and lots and lots of great things....

In April Andrew and I flew to Baja Mexico for a 6 day kayak trip and had a couple of extra days to spare. We found a kiteboarders heaven: La Ventana Beach. It was off season for kiting but perfect for SUPin' and so we did just that and explored some SUPin' there again... We saw fish from a new height and enjoyed the exercise and relaxation on the boards. Needless to say I was still intrigued by this new sport.

Spring rolled around and I began working part time at Deep Cove Canoe and Kayaks. I realized that I was spending my breaks and time before and after work on the SUP. I decided to race the Indian Arm race on the SUP... It was tough, it was long but it was my kind of race... I found out about this race in Vernon called the Kalavida Classic.. It would be my first real SUP event/race. Andrew, Kala, and I headed over with a board and some mountain bikes. I won both races, I felt great and I loved it. I was onto something.

Deep Cove started a SUP category on their weekly Tuesday Night races. At first this was tough for me because I also love surf skiing and loved using the Tuesday night races as my surf ski training but I was becoming more and more involved with SUPin' and began showing stronger and stronger feelings towards using these races as training for future SUP races.

I traveled the weekend before my wedding to Ucluelet to participate in the Island SUP race series. I had an awesome race coming in 4th overall (regardless of boat class). My presence in the scene in BC was growing and I was finding quick success and passion for this new sport.

I was away on my amazing honeymoon for the two big races in WA state and wasn't feeling organized enough to head to California to race in the biggest SUP race event of the year, The Battle of the Paddle. I was disappointed but determined to make it happen for the following year. To my surprise Bob from Deep Cove Canoe and Kayaks and Assistant Director Mike were heading down and were happy to help me out. I booked my plane a day before I left and I quickly found myself learning to stand up paddlesurf on Dana Point Beach.

I was negotiating the elite race all day/night and the morning of. I decided that in life taking healthy risks usually leads to some kind of growth/learning experience. I would only learn and excel as a paddler if I paddled with the best. So I found myself on the start line with 25 other elite ladies and about 120 elite men.

The course was a W loop course where surfing skills, turning skills, endurance, power and a little bit of luck were all essential to come out on top. I luckily acquired some of these essential skills but confidence and practice in the surf was going to be the difficult portion of the race for me. I had surfed before (not the standing up kind with a paddle) but sparingly, maybe once or twice a year depending on where I was traveling too. The gun went off and onto the board I climbed. I believe I fell off somewhere heading through the surf right off the start, most likely from nerves and being too stiff, so I forced myself to relax and stay calm and just try my best with the skills and knowledge I had thus far. Starboard helped me out with boards, for this race I was on a Free Race 12'6 x 31' Custom board. My thought with taking the slower and wider board versus the more race specific board was to sacrifice my flat water speed by being on a wider board (most elite racers were on 25' or so boards) in hope to stay upright more often in the surf. Well, I had good moments and bad moments... I was lucky at points: where we had to turn in breaking waves the majority of the time I missed the set but I also happen to be unlucky at times or just falter in the surf from inexperience.

I had moments where I wished I had entered the age groups and I had moments of great accomplishments and feeling proud to have taken up the challenge of the elite course. My result wasn't stellar but at least I have time and motivation to work towards improvement. Now, looking back I feel nothing but the feeling of success. I was the only Canadian on that start line, i gave it my all and I started racing and truly paddling 5 months ago. I am stoked.

I spent the rest of the afternoon checking out the expo, talking to reps, sponsors, athletes, etc. It was great to share stories, hear stories, and relax. We spent the night with the Starboard crew.

Sunday turned out to be a relatively big day! lots of good time spent on the board. I entered the distance race. I raced on the 14ft Starboard race board. I had never been on the board which I suppose isn't the best strategy for a big race but I felt lucky to just be there and have a board to stand on. The race included a mass start on the water with 180 paddlers... a little crazy but I made it through noentheless. I was feeling pretty good through the first third but was quickly noticing that I was using tons of effort and wasn't feeling the ease through the water that I naturally do? I pushed hard though through entire race, a little frustrated at not feeling the flow but enjoying the battle of the long course. This is definitely my strength and oddly enough what I absolutely love, just hammering for as long as I possibly can... it's just me against my own strength and determination. I was pleased with my 1:29 time for a 10 miler.. but unlucky for me I was in a tough category... next time..... though watch out folks... I am on a mission.

TEAM CANADA RELAY: 20th out of 50 teams!

I think the highlight of this amazing weekend was taking part in our team Canada relay competition. Kelvin, Norm, Bodie and I rounded out the team. The race consisted of paddling out the surf around 2 bouys back through the surf, onto the beach run 75ft tag your teammate and repeat through whole team twice. We were on the Surftech Bark 12'6, which is a great all around board! My first lap was going great until a board came flying into my head and knocked me off my board (a popular occurrence when you have 200 paddlers going in and out of surf, some with leashes and some without...). luckily I was fine and climbed back on my board to finish off my round.... The atmosphere, the excitement and the teamwork made the experience an unforgetable one. There has got to be something to be said about teammates and working as a team, it is something you just don't get in solo races... It is something I miss a ton from Adventure Racing. The comaderie brings people closer in a way that is hard to match. After our interview for the live webcast and coming off our high, it was all over and time to take down, say goodbye to folks and try and enjoy the last couple of hours in california.

The battle of the paddle is quite the event, it's huge, it's loud, and it's inspiring. The vibe is all about Stand Up and its quite the experience to have hundreds of people so into the same thing.

I have to say I am even more hooked than I was before, and even more keen to teach, to motivate, to give others this opportunity to enjoy this awesome new sport.

live, love, laugh,..DREAM!

lina

Battle of the Paddle...here I come!

2010-09-30T19:04:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to head to the Battle since I first started racing Stand Up Paddleboards earlier this summer. As per usual I was too busy to get myself organized enough before my wedding in August and following honeymoon. By the time I returned a month later and two weeks before the event everyone I knew involved in the sport either had organized their own way there or couldn't make it.... I was bummed but tried to let it go and move on with other things.... THEN... two staff from Deep Cove Canoe and Kayaks were heading with space and kindness to share..... and I find myself packing and heading on a plane at a far too early time of the morning tomorrow...

I am sooo excited! I feel blessed that Bob and Mike were willing to let me tag along and I feel compelled and pumped to take in the entire experience and hopefully kick some SUP'IN butt.

I believe you can check things out at the Rainbow Sandals website

I will try and post some information but if not will recap when I return to Vancouver....

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Bike, Hike, Paddle,... The multisport Honeymoon comes to an end...for now!

2010-09-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

I can't figure out if it feels like we never left or it feels like it has already been a long while since we got back. In reality its been two days! Our honeymoon was just grand. Andrew wrote some sweet write ups on his blog while we were away and I just won't try and compete so definitely check it out HERE

In short, it was my kind of a honeymoon. We biked, we hiked, we canoed and we even raced! We live in one of the most beautiful parts of the world. It is huge, it is wild, and it is god damn gorgeous.... Biking along the Freedom highway (highway 20) was breathtaking, and in some ways it felt like we owned the road. Biking through the recent damaged forests was intense, so dead of life and sad. It makes one appreciate color, nature, and life.

Hiking the North coast trail was muddy but unique, the amazing beaches that are really not that far away and rarely stepped on are some of the most amazing beaches I have been on.

Bowron Lakes is something that is a natural phenomenon. What an amazing creation to be able to paddle these lakes surrounded by huge mountains and crazy wildlife.

Not only was the scenery and physical aspect of the adventure mind blowing but the people are really what put the icing on the cake. Everywhere we went we were greeted with smiles, welcomes, and cheerful conversations. From Port Hardy to Bella Coola, Williams Lake, Wells, and Bowron Lakes.

The owners of the Bear Paw Cafe Dave and Cheryl put on a lovely event called the seven summits hike and bike challenge. It is a low key but amazing event. You get to experience the trails and the alpine in and around Wells. Dave and Cheryl lent us their mountain bikes for the event and we were both excited to check out the local trails. I told Andrew to go fast on the bike and so we went our separate ways. Well, it was just my luck that I was feeling so good and givin it hell that I got myself good and lost in the mountains, I found a different summit and a different race's markers and a new mountain bike trail but disappeared for a good 2.5 hours until I found myself back on the course again. I managed to finish off the other summits and enjoy the afternoon but no cup for me... I did get the hardluck award and will be back to finish the challenge with the right summits next year.

honeymoon photos

It is tough to be back in the city after being surrounded almost entirely by trees and water for a month. I am already excited for our next adventure and I am sure it will not be too far off in the distance...

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

honeymoon

2010-09-04T19:51:00.000-07:00

check andrew's blog for updates.

www.andrew-in-bc.blogspot.com

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

First in Ucluelet!

2010-08-19T09:17:00.000-07:00

My family is visiting and helping me get sorted for the Big Day coming up on Saturday!

In order to keep sane and have some quality father daughter time, we headed to Ucluelet so I could race in the 4th race of the island series SUP races. I also thought it would be a sweet place to chill before the mad rush of getting a wedding sorted!

I met the crew from Comox Surf SUp and Compass Adventures. They are great and put on a solid race! I got to race on a prototype Starboard SUP board which was fun and reminded me of the "New" board that I have been paddling lately.

I have to keep this one short for now as there is tons of organizing to do but I wanted to push hard and I did and managed to stay in front with three other guys, two of which were on the K15 boards (I was on a 12'6). Yay, it was about a 6km race with some headwinds and chop. I stayed upright, felt good and had loads of fun. The event finished off with a BBQ at Relic Surf Shop.

Jessie, my old roommate, took my dad out on a whale watching tour and it was grand. We saw humpback whales, jumping, playing, eating, and even a mum and baby swimming around. We saw some crazy sea lions and enjoyed the speeds of the Zodiac! Thanks Jessie and Jamie's Whale Watching Tours!

Now onto wedding things!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Standing Up to Granite Falls!

2010-08-11T09:00:00.000-07:00

I'm still lovin' the SUP...

This past weekend to celebrate finishing of my one year teaching degree and officially becoming a teacher, Andrew and I headed down Indian Arm for an overnight paddle camping trip. I thought it would be fun to do it STanding Up on the "New" Starboard paddleboard... it was fun for 99% of the time.... Andrew (aka the mule) kayaked and carried the luggage... We figured loading down Andrew would slow him down a little so he wasn't waiting too much for my slower Stand Up paddling.

Earlier in the summer I wanted to get a bunch of friends out on kayaks and down the Arm but due to a variety of reasons it didn't happen. As we had it Andrew and I were free with no plans for the weekend and decided to take the opportunity to sleep in and then head down to Granite falls. As it happens, this past weekend we were blessed with our first rainfall in over a month and despite some serious lack of desires to head back out in the rain (after a bike ride into town to meet some friends for coffee and getting soaked and cold) we went anyways.

I on the "New" Starboard SUP and ANdrew on the Looksha IV sea kayak. It took us a blistering 2.5 hours to get down to Granite Falls, we were blessed with some little downwind waves which helped in speed and increased the fun factor due to some minor surfing opportunities. I did have to sit down and create a semi canoe type vessicle out of the SUP for crossing through a side chop.... I managed and enjoyed the rest from concentrating on my balance. Despite the dismal weather Granite Falls was still packed with folks but we managed to find a perfect spot waterfront with trees. We set up camp with tarp and all. We managed to hiked around the falls as the water levels were low, ate, drank, and had some proper chillin time out under the tarp and by the ocean... no complaints just smiles.

We awoke to calm weather and headed down to the Wigwam Inn. A posh unfortunately members only Inn.... As we headed up the Arm back towards the Cove the wind picked up and I had quite the baddle with at times on the SUP. I thankfully did not a tow but at times wondered how I would make it back. I kneeled at points to try and become more aerodynamic... all in all it took us twice as long to get back, we hugged the shoreline nice and tightly and cruised into the Cove in time to make it for breakfast at Honey's. I wonder if I was the first SUP'er to make to Granite Falls and back?!?

More PICTURES!

I am off to Ucluelet this weekend with ym dad to hit up the 4th race of the Island Race Series on the SUP!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Long weekend.... on the trails in Pemberton and a new Canadian

2010-08-03T14:27:00.000-07:00

A fine crew of us headed up to Pemberton for the long weekend to ride our mtn bikes and to celebrate Andrew's becoming Canadian. On Thursday July 29th Andrew became one of 70 new citizens of Canada. The celebration was quite good and the diversity of people was surprising from Russia to Argentina and everywhere in between.

We stayed at the Owl Creek Campground which was basic with a beautiful river (Andrew, Kala, and I had a little dip in the freezing yet refreshing river), the necessary outhouses and somewhere to park our tents. It was dirt cheap and nice enough. It even had two great trees for me to set up the slackline.... Talking about slacklining, a big congrats to the Yogaslackers and Dart Nuun for an awesome race in Tahoe...

We rode the trail 'resurrection' from the campground on Saturday . It was blistering hot with an adventure race style defunked logging road that was so steep and so loose that riding was near impossible... hike a biking up a logging road with our bikes in high heat was not considered to be too much fun by most BUT there was an exciting descent to follow... a little sandy at points but it added to the adventure... I was glad to have my flats and pads on for that one... The rest of the day we swam in the river, enjoyed some sun, drank coffee during a rather abrupt thunderstorm at the Mount Currie Coffee Co, hung out in Paul and Angie's massive tent during the second portion of the thunderstorm and slacklined once the rain ceased a little...

Sunday we rode Nimby in attempts to find the new Stimulus trail but read the map at the bike Co wrong and after some failed trail finding attempts ended up heading down Overnight Sensation, which is one stellar trail.. so all good! This trail has it all from rocks, to smooth in the forest trails, to technical steep trails and of course the heat and lack of rain (the rain the night prior did nothing to dampen the trails) some sand! I found it a little frustrating climbing nimby in my flats but I think with more practice I will get the technique but again enjoyed the steep technical downhill with my pads and flats. I am totally on a mtn bike buzz (as well as SUP and everything else buzz)We finished the ride off with a swim in One mile lake, and ice cream.... Perfect!

Monday it was down to three of us, Andrew, Kala, and I headed up to Whistler area and rode Kill me Thrill Me... despite living in Whistler I had never rode this trail... Yup, one of my favs.... loved it and it made me miss Whistler even more than I already do... what a wonderful wonderful place!

Now its 1 more week of school and then WEDDING and huge Multi sport honeymoon extravaganza!

but for now Tuesday Night Deep Cove Race on the SUP.

PICS HERE!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Hanes Valley Trail, Deep Cove, SUP, school, wedding and honeymoon planning...

2010-07-27T10:21:00.001-07:00

I am one busy lady right now...

There is 1.5 weeks of school left with 4 major assignments. I am just trying to keep my head above the water.... One full year of school is almost over and I will officially be a teacher... Woohoo! Its been a long but beautiful ride...

Because of my poor attention span and focus I can't actually do work for an entire day so Saturday my break consisted of running the Hanes Valley Trail with Andrew... He was feeling a little ill but is a superstar and pushed onwards. This is a fun trail that goes from the Lynn Valley Headwaters to the Top of Grouse Mountain. You run along the river, past Norvan Falls, through the valley and then climb up boulders and scree to Crown Mountain Pass. From there you follow the trails over Dam and Goat Mountains and find yourself at the Grouse Mountain lodge. If you don't start at 4pm then you might even make it in time for ice cream.

Workin at Deep Cove Canoe and Kayaks is fantastic! I feel so lucky to be involved with such a stellar group of people all around. That being said I was there for 11 hours on SUnday.... I got myself a nice tan on face and arms!!!!

Tuesday Night Races:

This Tuesday Night I met up with the Trident folks and I had the pleasure of trying out a new paddleboard from Starboard called "The New". it is 12 6' in length and 23.5' in width. It is a full on racing boat and not sure now if it was me or the boat really but the two of us together definitely picked up some speed. I was mingled among the surfskis. I was a little worried about stability but I managed to stay upright the entire race!!!!

I enjoyed the easy maneuverability of the board. I could turn it when I wanted and with ease and quickness. I also enjoy the acceleration of the board. It typically takes me a couple minutes to get going but found I could get up to speed quite quickly and efficiently.

I thought the stability would affect my stroke but found that I quickly adapted to the width and with my surprise paddled with ease (luckily, it was a relatively calm night out in the cove..).

It is fast...

All in all it was fun, I especially liked the extra challenge of the stability and the speed!

The race itself is a stellar one: one of my favorite multisport (paddle, run, swim) races...

Look forward to the next one!

Now its time for more school assignments, wedding planning, and whatever amount of work and training I can squeeze in in between!

Live, Love, Laugh,...DREAM!

Lina

Andrew didn't knack his knees?!??!?

2010-07-14T13:20:00.000-07:00

Andrew rocked the Knee knacker this past weekend... I am proud of him...

go here to learn more about his experience!

I got to ride my road bike and cheer.....

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Hood River; SUP, mtn bike, Mt. Hood

2010-07-05T22:03:00.000-07:00

Canada Day long weekend....

After much indecision, and plans not coming together Andrew had the great idea to head to Hood River. Two years ago I did a 24 hour adventure race there with the Yogaslackers and remember only good things about the area. I was instantly in. Of course like many of our trips we brought a variety of equipment with us: mtn bikes, mountaineering gear and SUP gear.

I am really enjoying SUPin and the community surrounding it. I am still new to it all but am diving right in there. I love racing them, I know I would love expeditions on them and teaching fitness on SUP boards. Deep Cove has now invited SUP paddlers on the Tuesday Night Races. Last Tuesday a huge crowd turned up... it was fantastic and surprising. The sport is growing fast. I also met some of the Starboard reps. I managed to leave Deep Cove with a SUP board that needed repair in Hood River. SO hence, the SUP addition to our gear list. There also is a race series put on by BIg WInds in Hood River every Thursday night on the river. As we were heading over on Thursday and due to border delays (2 hours...boo) we actually arrived into town just in time for me to race.

Big Winds Race
The water in the Hood can get mighty choppy due to wind and current and although not in full force on Thursday the chop was more than I was used to on the SUP. I was paddling the Starboard PIN (which I really like). It was racers choice for the course as the original route would have been too much in the higher than expected winds and current. The racers managed to still choose a pretty lenghty route but I didn't mind. There were some big names out on the water which was exciting stuff for me. It was a shore start which now I am 2 for 2 for terrible starts (I need to work on my off the board starts).

Other than the pros out front the rough chop didn't set me too far behind. It was out with the wind but against the current, back against the wind but with the current and then a little loop in the protected flat water area. I didn't want to embarrass myself so I pushed hard... In the end to my surprise I managed to be the first female to finish. Following the race, Andrew and I chatted with some local SUPers, all of whom were very welcoming. I got the pleasure to meet with Nikki Gregg who is one of the pioneers of SUP fitness. She was grand. We tried to meet up again but alas it didn't work out. Next time...

The crew at the SUP race let us in on a campground not too far from town... Tucker Park, we rolled in late Thursday night and very lucky to eventually find a spot... we were not the only Canucks with the idea of heading south for the long weekend... We even got to enjoy fireworks from the campground for Canada Day!

Post Canyon Mtn BIking

Friday morning, we decided to check out a local mtn bike area called Post Canyon. The trails are plentiful, smooth, and fast. We rode for about 3.5 hours with a mini adventure Andrew and Lina style (lost but not lost, a little bushwhacking, checking out closed trails, understanding why they are closed and finding the trail we wanted by accident and because Andrew is a curious man in a very good way).

Mt. Hood and its SUMMIT
Wake Up call:

Friday night after making dinner at camp and gathering up our mountaineering gear we drove away from sunshine into some extremely harsh weather. We drove up to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood to get ourselves ready for our summit day on Saturday. We arrived as the sun was setting but we couldnt tell as we drove straight into dense fog, harsh winds and rain. We got our paperwork done and made the back fo the subaru outback ready for bed.... We slept in the car to only get up in a few hours. We began our hike with a harsh 3am wake up call (and we think we were one of the last to leave the park lot that morning compared to the other climbing parties, actually we heard some leaving at midnight or so...). We set off in the dark but to our surprise the rain had stopped and we could actually see some stars... The day was looking hopeful. I was feeling surprisingly good. I really love doing outdoor activities in the dark (it reminded me of my time in Whistler when Megan, Nick, Adrian and I would start some local hikes at midnight due to our weird work schedules, oh and adventure racing...I digress). As we hiked over and on moraines light was beginning to enter the dark sky. Once we hit the top of the ski lifts we could put away our headlamps and put on our crampons... I set us off at a blistering pace over the first hump as I really really had to use the "bathroom" but we managed to catch too many climbers and I wanted to get away from them... AFter my little bathroom experience with a blue bag (lets just say I don't deal with bodily things very well...) As we headed past the crater and onto Hogsback one of the first climbers was on his way down... speedy guy. The climb wasn't too bad and the toughest part both physically and mentally was the last pitch to the summit. It was steep, I had crampons but not mountaineering ones and one axe that I hammered into that snow each time with effort and security (in my head it was my lifeline...) the tough part was that we managed to catch a load of people and so found ourselves heading straight up the middle of three chutes and right below two guys making their way down. While they were coming down they were knocking chunks of icy snow down along with them... one managed to hit me square face right in between my eyes on the top of nose... I was concentrating so hard on sticking all of my spiky things into the hard snow that I neglected to pay attention to the snow falling on top of me... I am still wearing my hard core scab from it all..haha.. I decided the best solution was to stop thinking and just giver' to pass the two guys coming down... it worked. Andrew and I reached the summit at about 630am... But we didn't hang out there for very long as the summit managed to be a long huge cornice hanging over a steep cliff... hmmm... not my idea of a place to chill... so we took our pictures and began the descent.

Now, I am definitely an UP girl.... I find descents tough and a little more nerve racking. You always read about deaths and injuries from people coming DOWN... SO, I took my time. We eventually made it through the tough spots, stopped for second breakfast and tried out some glisading to save the knees but instead gave ourselves bum burn (the snow was sharp...). We were back at our cars at around 10am... We spent the rest of the day napping, swimming in rivers, drinking coffee and doing that kind of thing.
We wanted to head out for a SUP but alas it was too windy and we couldn't get ourselves any boards...

Surveyor's Ridge Mtn Biking
We fell asleep quite early Saturday night due to our early start and so getting up fairly early to get in a bike ride didn't seem so harsh, well especialy after our 3am wake up the morning prior. We headed down to another mtn bike area and found a loop that would take about an hour, 8 mile loop (we were heading into to Portland to meet a good friend of mine, Risa from my MN camp days). The ride was a blast, fun single track up and down with great views... loved it! We will be back for more biking...

We met Risa, ate, caught up and then headed back north... the border was a breeze and now its full on with school work, assignments and other life things....

all in all a fabulous weekend away with my awesome husband to be (wow, thats kind of nutty sounding but love it....)

more pics posted here!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Race Report Kalamalka Classic!

2010-06-27T21:07:00.000-07:00

I am back from the rockies and have a lot to write about. First though, I would like to write about my first big SUP race experience.
Traveling, and going back to school within the same year has drained me financially and so the sport I fell in love with for a couple of years (adventure racing) has been put on hold for a little bit (I'm not done with it just yet...) due to its high expense, finding myself without a team, and other life things, etc etc..... no biggy: always looking on the bright side of things and always searching for new ways to test my abilities and limits it has forced me to look for other opportunities locally in the same sport, related sports and new sports.

Along came Stand Up Paddleboarding.... I am not too sure where it all started but I believe in November 2008 at Santa Claus Beach in CA with old Camp Olson friends.... a little play in the surf and trial with the boards ( Andrew paddled with dolphins...super cool) I instantly fell in love but was off to travel South America so forgot about it for awhile...

Then upon my return last summer and my keen interest in kayaking I found that Deep Cove Canoe and kayaks had started renting a couple of boards.. I went out a handful of times last summer and my interest in the sport peaked again but they were expensive and I didn't know much about the sport...

This summer I got hired with Deep Cove Canoe and Kayaks as a kayak guide and found myself even more "obsessed" with stand up paddleboards and with more opportunities to try them out. I now check websites, race reports, fitness and lesson ideas and it is becoming part of my daily life without actually owning a board or anything to do with SUP.... but it all has to start somewhere and usually it starts with being motivated, inspired, and keen to learn the history about what you are getting into.

I raced my first SUP race in May at the Tour de Indian Ar, which is primarily a kayak race but this year they added a SUP category as well. It was tough but I loved it.

While reading about the sport on the web I came across a posting for a race in vernon the Kalamalka Classic. Well, Kalavida Surf Shop did a good job of convinving me I wanted to go this "festival" that incorporated two races and a little dinner with festivities. Andrew and Kala came along and we brought bikes as we knew there was good trails in the area.

Deep Cove Canoe and Kayaks lent me a rental Starboard 12'6 Cruiser for the race. I had no idea if this was a good board or what? but was so happy that I could borrow it and have a board for the race that I didn't care.

The first race was Saturday morning, a 3.5 mile loop with a 200m portage run with the boards through a park. On the start line there were about 8 male and 8 females. They played a cheesy song and tried to use the conch as the start horn (you can watch this on the video at the top of the page) and then I managed to have the most horrible start EVER... I got squished between folks and then a girl fell off her board right in front of me, but being a rookie I just tried my best to paddle around her and catch the people in the front. I managed to catch the two girls in front just after crossing the Riviera channel... and then eventually pulled passed Jen Segger. My eyes were on the guys infront of me and the bouys we were to paddle around off in the distance. I kept a good pace and managed to pass the guy in fourth place before the portage. The portage was a greta little addition but with these huge boards tough to run with. I had to stop once to re adjust my fingers that had managed to loose grip... After the short run and back on the boards my chest could feel the sprint and I was breathing hard (I definitely need to do more sprint work outs... but I love the enduro stuff)... I never quite managed to catch the guy in third and had no idea how far infront I was from second place for the females so just kept paddling away as best as I knew how... I rolled around the corner to hear on the microphone that I was 1st female.... it was a great feeling to finish so well. After cooling off in the lake with Andrew and Kala we all headed for lunch and a ride around Kalamalka Provincial Park and Cosens Bay. It was a great ride on smoother trails than we normally ride! We managed to escape the thunder and rain, had another dip in the lake and some slacklining on the beach.... I love lakes as they make you feel so clean and refreshed!

Saturday night we headed to Gatzke Farm Market for a buffet dinner, music by some local ex surfer/musician dude.... he even wrote a song for the race! I managed to score a surftech paddle for my win and a bunch of nicely vibrant trucker hats and stickers for the crew....

Sunday morning, I forced the crew up nice and early (sorry! but thanks for being good sport about it) so I could get to the race start and find out which direction the race would be heading. We had to paddle the length of the Kalamalka Lake from Oyama to Vernon... Andrew and Kala dropped me off and met up with some friends and they hit up some more biking trails while I put my arms and back to the test in a 20km or so paddle across the lake. Only three brave ladies showed up for the big race.... we started off first and 10 minutes later the men took off... they wanted us all to finish in and around similar times and so decided to stagger the start... I thought the guys would catch up a lot quicker than they actually did and so the stagger actually worked out perfectly.... well calculated! We took off and the three of us stayed somewhat close together for the first quarter but I slowly pulled away and then didn't look back and didn't know how far behind anyone was at any point in the race... I figured it didn't really matter anyways cause I wasn't going to really push much harder so early in the race... I didn't want to fade or just not make it to the end... It was kind of neat to be in front for such a large part of the race... a little worrisome at points as I began doubting myself if I was heading in the direction (hard to get it wrong really but it happens when you get tired and think people should have come passed you already).... eventually the first two guys Beau and kelvin paddled past me. I was glad when they did as I was loosing my motivation a little with a wandering mind and seeing them sail past me got my mojo going again and I had someone to follow and try to catch! As I neared closer to the fnish a couple more guys paddled past but no girls.... I was starting to feel soreness in my arms and the heat was starting to get to me in the last third of the race but I paddled on as I knew if I stopped for anything I might have trouble starting again.... I managed to paddle into 1st place again and get crowned the Queen of Kalamalka...

There were some great athletes out there and this sport is something I can see myself really getting into... I enjoy this sort of pain and mental battle. I met some great folks, paddlers and volunteers. The volunteers were grand by the way and kudos to the organizers Kevin and michelle! Please do it again next year...

You will find me in more SUP races..... its the beginning of something big.... I can feel it!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

SUP racing...

2010-06-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

I am in cycling through Jasper right now so can't write much but will write a race report about my recent SUP racing in Vernon on Kalamalka Lake.

It was a fun event put on by Kalavida Surf Shop. Two days of racing... one 3.5 mile SUp race with portage and a long 10 mile race across the lake. I have discovered I have a natural talent for SUP'in and I love it! Sweet!

I managed to win both races. I am definitely into it....

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Not your typical....

2010-06-16T17:03:00.001-07:00

stagette.

Sj and I are both getting married this summer... we share many similar passions and amazing friends...therefore combined our stagette's into one big girls adventure away in Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast.

I don't think I should reveal too much (I believe there is some of that 'ol saying what happens at the stagette stays at the stagette) but I will say we had some solid fun mountain biking in Roberts Creek and across to Gibsons.

We stayed at Up the Creek: a comfy, hospitable, lovely hostel

We had some stagette type sillyness...

Marg's guitar came out in a big way....and the our tummie's were never empty

Thank you ladies! I am lucky to have such amazing friends....

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Nimby Fifty and more...

2010-05-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

Fun weekend in the Sea to Sky area. We were off to Pemberton for the Nimby Fifty mountainbike race.

It started off with bbq and good times with friends in Whistler. I really do miss that place.

Andrew and I woke up Saturday morning to rain. We were both registered to race in the Nimby Fifty mtn Bike race in Pemberton. It was to be a 35km course (that felt like 50km) on some new trails in Pemberton. I was looking forward to the ride. Thanks to Chantelle we got to sleep in a warm house and sleep in a little as we didn't have to be in Pemberton until quarter to 10. After a nice breakfast of oatmeal, nuts, dried fruit and of course choc chips we headed to the Aplpine Cafe for some coffee to make sure our bodies would be stimulated and ready to work hard.

We arrived with plenty of time and rain! After registering and getting ourselves organized Andrew noticed that his rear shock had blown?!?!? What? He is a bike mechanic and of course made sure my bike was sparkling and in good order and was sure his was in good form for the race as well...

Andrew being the amazing guy that he is didn't think twice, met the race organizer and volunteered to sweep the course on foot. Awesome. I think he had a grand ol time and the race organizers kindly gave him an entry for next year and he will be there..... more on his story here

Anyways on to my story...

I was up for a good time and my goal was to enjoy the race and do my best. I have steadily seen improvements in my riding and am getting pretty stoked on the whole downhill part of mtn biking...hehe..

I started off mid rear as to not feel too much pressure in front and behind me. As we rolled through the first loop of the course, I managed to find a pretty good spot as we headed into the 101 switchback climb... not too many people to pass and not too many people that needed to pass me. I felt pretty good on the climb, just taken it easy in the good ol granny gear. As we crested the top, there was some quick fireroad descending and onto some steep fairly technical trails. I was happy with my riding here although I was a little slowler than others I was riding most of the trails. I did manage to go over my bars off a mini cliff...oops! After this there was lots of climbing and descending, hike a bikin' and some more single track rock slabs and technical riding... I never really bonked but did manage to loose a little of my mojo for some reason. I slacked off and lost my speed. No real reason that I can think of... hmm.. oh well, I managed to come through the line muddy, tired, and happy! There is some good ridin out there. Also there was a strong STEED team representation! Way to go STEED cycles! It was comforting to be part of such a strong and wonderful team covered in green and white!

Following the race and when Andrew finally arrived, we enjoyed burgers, music, and drinks! Tom, Ned, Holly, Megan, Andrew and I managed to close down the party. We were the last ones up enjoying the beautiful countryside of pemberton. The rain had stopped, the bonfire was roaring and the chatter and laughter with good friends created a most perfect evening. We managed to be the only ones that decided to stay and camp in the nearby forest.

The following morning, we were moving a little slower but all headed to the Whistler Bike Park! Thanks to the Bike Co for the bike rental!

Lovin' Pemberton

live, love, laugh,..DREAM!

lina

MOMAR 2010 Squamish

2010-05-25T17:59:00.000-07:00

Can I make it? Will I make it? Yes, no, yes, no, maybe, no.....yes!!!!! I am so glad that I was able to participate in the race. First off a much needed THANK YOU to my very own Andrew for essentially getting me there and making it all happen for me. Second, a big huge thanks to Bryan and Jen Segger for putting on yet another fabulous Momar Event.

I hadn't realized how much I have missed AR racing until this weekend. It hasn't even been one full year since my last big race but I have been getting the itch for some time now to race another AR race... YAY!

This was my first attempt at racing AR Solo style... I was nervous as I can not even navigate when there is flagging on a course. Nav is not my strong point. Sometimes, one of the best ways to learn is to just put yourself in a situation where you must learn (I must do this with learning to drive stick...).

The Leman's start proved to be a great way to quickly disperse the racers before hitting some single track. The climb up was tough in sections with steep steep climbs on loose gravel. I was happy with my push to the top. I managed to ride close to all of the climbs. I have been riding more than usual this spring and it has shown in my confidence on the descents. I am excited that my technical riding is improving and I still have so much improvement to go... the learning is endless. The single track was awesome along with some of the classics and some new trails. Heading into the O course I was getting nervous (my weakness). Despite no significant time loss or major errors I kept my pace slow and tried hard to concentrate on my position at all times which sometimes is hard for me and my short focus span. It took me a little longer to find certain points but it could have been much much worse... I lost some time but did not panic about it. Finishing off the technical biking with the plunge and only one humorous fall off my bike it was time to hike the chief. I was feeling a little tired at this point and just took the hike up slowly but consistently. I managed to totally forget that I needed to summit and just followed signs without thinking. Fortunately, Lucy, another female racer pointed it out to me... I was annoyed that I had to backtrack etc. but got over it after the awesome repel off the Chief. I rocked the run back down (I am feeling so much more confident on my downhill running!!! running on the shore with Andrew has helped tons). The river crossing was great for the legs and I got to smile for Jordy and the cameras. I kept my eye on the map (which I amazingly was able to destroy by the end of the race....map cases are recommended for a reason) the rest of the bike ride to town to ensure no unnecessary slip ups. Made it into town surprisingly as the first female...?!? I was confused so I just smiled and kept going certain I wasn't first. The urban run was short and sweet... It paid that i took some seconds to switch to my running shoes as running in bike shoes is just no fun at all ). I came through as the first female in 5 hours and 30 minutes. I am so happy with my performance. ALthough not a perfect race I tried to stay calm, stay consistent, have fun and not get lost... I succeeded. Thanks for a grand race and thank you ladies, for pushing hard... There are some strong women out there!

Fo results and pics go here

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

A weekend of Firsts

2010-05-19T09:17:00.000-07:00

Life is getting busy again,... but I love it.

This past weekend was full of firsts...

Good friends SJ and Tom invited Andrew and I to a bike tour to Bowen Island (first) for Norwegian dinner (first with a glitch), to meet Tom's grandpa Jan (first), to hike up Mt Gardiner (first), and finally I enjoyed my first SUP race (first).

We met SJ and Tom in Horseshoe Bay Friday evening and headed over to the Legion on Bowen in hopes of enjoying a Norwegian dinner created by Tom's grandpa, Jan. His dinner was so delicious and popular that by the time we arrived it was all gone... no worries, we had done a little grocery shopping and enjoyed pretzels, carrots and other munchies and some drinks. We managed to close down the bar (I won't tell you what time that was) and enjoyed some time with Jan before we hit the sack Friday night.

Jan is an amazing 97 year old man who is more social than I could ever be! We woke up in time to eat and be out of the house before his first of two social hostings were to occur at 9am. We decided to explore Mt Gardiner, despite some minor glitches in finding the path we managed to summit in good time, had a delicious second breakfast/brunch, and hung out in the sun. We took a different route home and made it in time for tea and relaxation with Jan before we had to brave the hill to get us back across Bowen and catch the 3pm ferry.

Sunday I decided to try the Tour de Indian Arm on a Stand Up Paddle Board. It was a 10km route with wind, boat wash and other exciting moments... I had no idea about anything so just gave it my best shot.... there were about 5 other guys who were definitely of the more experienced nature but I managed to hold my own and make it in about 1 hr 40 min and not too far behind 2nd and 3rd place... there will definitely be more of those sorts of races in my future... I can feel it!

Okay back to the books for me

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Kayaking the Sechelt Inlet with 13 teenagers.....

2010-05-11T09:15:00.000-07:00

I wasn't sure what I might be getting myself into when I signed up for this trip... what took place? A beautiful long weekend on the water exploring old abandoned bible camps, hippie communes, abandoned family cabins, coasteering, bush-wacking and lots of kayaking, eating and campfires. I had a blast with the staff and students from SEMI Secondary. Here are some pictures to show off our beautiful backyard we live in!

Live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Salt Spring Guide exchange...via bikes

2010-05-03T10:16:00.001-07:00

Andrew joined me for a fun weekend hangin out with kayak gurus... We decided to bike over in order to save on some ferry costs and increase the adventure aspect of the weekend.

The guide exchange is run by the SKGABC and occurs twice a year.

This one was hosted by Island Escapades on Salt Spring Island.

Andrew and I headed out Friday afternoon and managed to catch all the right ferries and make it over to Ganges for dinner. They cooked up some tasty curry and angel cake. We watched a slideshow of kayaking from Salt Spring to Alaska which got the adventure twitch roaring.... (it doesn't take much for me)... On Saturday we headed to the Samsun Narrows and practiced bracing, ferrying, current rescues and enjoyed a lovely day on the water.

Andrew and I headed to the Tree House Cafe (we love this place) for a delicious meal and live music. We finished off the day back at the Lions Club enjoying some live music from a local band called Synergy!

Sunday it was time to get a little more serious with our CPR recertification (not that serious though) and our adventure back home.

PICS from the weekend!

It's neat to see how certain communities migrate. On the ferry home we met and chatted with a bunch of "bike tourers"... the world is small.... love it!

We also decided to change our honeymoon plans on the ferry and created one heck of a local adventure. We will celebrate in the UK come Christmas time as we decided to explore some of the amazing local adventures to be had right from our front door. We are combining some of my favorite things into one big adventure.... bike touring, hiking/trail running/canoeing and camping... more to come on that one...

for now.... i gotta keep staying fit so off to Crossfit I go.

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Hail Storm adds beauty and excitement to Deep Cove Tuesday Night Paddle Races

2010-04-29T08:40:00.000-07:00

Andrew and I headed out in Ben's Mark 2 double surf ski for the first time this spring/summer. It was still chilly out and the water not warm but Andrew being more of the risk taker persuaded me it was time to step it up a notch. Not wanting to feel like a wimp and deep down inside wanting to get out on the surfski I smiled and said yes. I was quickly regretting my decision as rain and dark clouds greeted us in Deep Cove. As the race began and we all sprinted off the hail began to fall... at first it was fun, then the drops got bigger, harder and faster and fun turned into pain...but, as the rainbow shined over the mountains and the sun created a beautiful white mist over the ocean and the adventure became a little ridiculous fun returned and I loved it. The noise as the hail hit our carbon paddles was a little surreal and the plopping sounds of it as millions of drops pounced on the ocean was pretty cool! If a video turns up i will post it up.... until then use your imagination....

adventures continue on the pacific northwest!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Comox Snow to Surf....GOLD!

2010-04-26T08:55:00.000-07:00

(Paul Palfreyman photographer)

Paul's Pictures HERE!

Figrolls racing came together in Comox for another fun filled weekend of mtn biking and the annual snow to surf relay race. This year Andrew and I were the last leg of the race... the ocean canoe!

First thoug,h Saturday a crew of us went out on some of the local CUmberland xcountry mtn bike trails for a little rip around...after a couple of minor mishaps (leaving a helmet behind etc) and our usual guides being busy we had an eventful little ride. We were left to our memories and a map but some recent logging left us confused and a little lost.... we did manage to hit some of the usual trails and a couple of new ones even if they weren't the ones we intended to ride and it was still good times with awesome trails!

After the ride, Andrew and I hit the water on the canoe for a last minute paddle on the course for Sunday.. it was calm and a beautiful evening for a paddle.... race day would prove to be very different....

Our usual potluck dinner and drinks finished off the fun filled day in Comox....

Sunday was the big Snow to Surf RACE DAY. It is a brilliant locally run event but can be a swarm of confusion for those of us with a lack of organizational skills. Luckily Andrew and I just had to head to the beginning of the canoe leg, simple!..... The race begins with the alpine ski, then nordic ski, two runners, mtn bike, kayak, road bike and finished with the canoe.

(photographer Paul Palfreyman)

Andrew and I had been in the canoe twice beforehand but felt fairly confident in the sturdy boat. The canoe leg began with a 1km run down the bike path where the canoe partner would be waiting with the boat at the edge of the water. I scored the run as I luckily brought running shoes (lucky? I don't know?!?)... I forgot how much sprinting hurts! Jacek came in 12/13th from the road bike and I was off trying to hold off another competitor just behind me. Andrew was ready with the canoe I jumped in and we were off. The water was nothing like the evening before, it was choppy, wavy and pretty much all over the place. One canoe took off ahead of us and we tried to keep it in our sight and managed to sneak by another. 3/4 of the way through the course a canoe that overtook us capsized in front of us which allowed us to regain our spot. Andrew did a fabulous job steering while I tried to keep us moving forward. I have to say we were a great team. Paddling into the finish was grand and I got to jump out of the canoe and ring the finish line bell! woohoo. We managed to come in 12th overall and 1st in the Open mixed category! the rest of the crew did awesome!

we enjoyed the beer garden but had to sadly head back to mainland... until next year

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

The Sea of Cortez gets my two thumbs up...

2010-04-19T15:00:00.000-07:00

Andrew and I have just returned from a picture perfect kayaking trip in the Baja California Sur Mexico where we spent 6 days out on the beautiful sea of Cortez, then a day at the El Chorro hot springs and finished off our little trip (thanks to Captain Kirk) with SUP'in from la playa in La Ventana.

It was hot, it was sunny, and it was post card picture perfect. We snorkeled with balloon fish amongst other sea creatures, we got 5 nights with private beaches (no one else happen to be there), we hiked up and through canyons and among various cactus plants, we experienced the markets of mexico, and some of the great local delicacies such as fish tacos and clams. We enjoyed our share of cervezas and vino. We read books, slacklined and simply enjoyed life in the desert.

Mar y Aventuras provided us with kayaks and the right kayaking gear for our 6 day trip out of Telecote and around the Isla Espiritu Santo and Partido. The islands are part of the national park and no fresh water can be found on these islands. We therefore stuffed 48 litres of water in our kayaks along with food and gear for 6 days. We decided to try and maximize our Mexican experience with bringing lots of tortillas, beans, avocados and cheese. Something, that is very different in Baja than in BC is that it is HOT and fresh food is harder to keep than in BC where cooler waters and temperatures help preserve these fine foods.

Our kayak route is shown on the map. We enjoyed fairly light winds on our trip. Apparently April is one of the best months for kayaking in this part of the world. Wind is normally the "worry" while kayaking on the Sea of Cortez off the coast of Baja. Having only the forecast of winds and waves before we left we took the opportunity of light winds on our first two days and covered much distance on our kayaks (3/4 of the route...maybe I was treating it a little like an adventure race and forgot that we could rest and not keep moving as fast we could and be heroes...oops! hehe). Having completed most of our route on the first two days we took the opportunity to hike, snorkel and enjoy 'rest' on the final four days of our kayak adventure while bay hoping on the inside passage of the island. We rarely saw anyone else and enjoyed 5 nights of private beach camping!!!

More of our favorite pictures can be found HERE!

Andrew also has a blog and wrote something up about the trip as well. Our pics are the same but our thoughts and take on the adventure are different... enjoy!

This trip was grand and it had been awhile since I went away on an adventure that wasn't a race.

I do miss racing and I will be back on the adventure race scene sometime in the near future. I am excited to train and see what opportunities arise for me. For now I am going to train hard on the mtn bike and race in Pemberton's new 50km race in May as well as give my first xterra race a try in Squamish this June....

for now its back to applications, training, and life in Vancouver (which I LOVE) until the next adventure...

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Easter Weekend at Ipsoot Mountain

2010-04-05T21:40:00.000-07:00

We spent a lovely weekend in the mountains with good friends Sj and Tom.... we ate, skied, shredded, camped and truly enjoyed life! Here are some pics by Tom Furst.

Happy Easter!

Here are some pics from Andrew

We are off to Mexico on a sea kayak expedition off the coast of Baja!

Live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Weekend

2010-03-30T20:42:00.000-07:00

Andrew and I headed back to Egmont for some wedding planning stuff but also for the relaxation, and the beautiful outdoor setting! We took some pictures (yet to add), rode our mtn bikes, hiked and had some r & r. We even got to pick our dinner for Saturday night straight from the beaches of Egmont. We went Oyster, clam and mussel picking in the low tide and "caught" our dinner fresh off the shores! Lexi, a french woofer made us a sweet belgian style mussel dish with "pomme de frite", a classic, apparently.

We had to return Sunday morning as I had a lululemon luncheon function at the top of Grouse. After very little deliberation I hiked up instead of taking the gondola. It was in pretty good condition until closer to the top where the snow was a little slick but really not that bad (probably a different story now after some heavy snow fall this week). I made it in time for some delicious lunch and great conversation. I also made it before the massive hail thunderstorm hit the peak of Grouse. It was quite the spectacle.

Of course the grind wasn't enough for me so I went out for an evening run in the rain around east van (my rockin' neighborhood if you didn't already know).

What's next? Well, some backcountry pow fun to be had this weekend and then.... Andrew and I are headed to Southern Baja for a weeklong sea kayak expedition and some r&r on the beach. A little celebration for making it through my long teaching practicum and getting that much closer to becoming a full fledge school teacher! woohoo!

Upon our return we will paddle hard in the snow to surf comox relay race and then some local run/AR/etc races in May.

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Tuesday Night Paddles

2010-03-26T10:18:00.000-07:00

Love it!

we had a wonderful paddle last night... good to be out on the water with Ben, Johnny and Andrew! No more night paddles though... it was light the entire time...summer is coming! Look forward to warmer times so I can get out of the ski without worrier about hypothermia!

Last day at Moscrop :(... I will miss it all. Soon to be a teacher though.... exciting stuff!

off to the sunshine coast for the weekend! mtn biking and wedding planning! woohoo!

live, love, laugh,..DREAM!
lina

To the top of Mount Baker

2010-03-21T11:16:00.000-07:00

(photo of us on the summit from Paul's camera)

We climbed MOUNT BAKER!!!!!! WOOHOO!

The weather forecast looked promising, the group came together and the summit was reached.

Friday evening the group was formed: Paul, Andrew, Kala and myself. I was excited yet nervous. My body has not been feeling up to par as of late and I was a little worried what a 12 hour day might look like for me (or not look like) but I wanted to climb Baker so bad.... So I promised myself to focus mentally and work on pushing through if anything were to happen with my body.

Saturday morning Andrew and I slept through as our alarm was set for 4PM rather than 4AM... OOPS. It was good luck that Kala rang us and was picking the crew up.. phew... thank goodness for Andrew's mad organizational skill as we got up and ready to go in less than 5 min and were in Port Moody to pick up Paul around 5am.

The border was a breeze and the American officer actually made some jokes mostly consisting on us realizing how early it really is and that Baker doesn't open for several hours.... Good thing we were being hard core and propelling ourselves to the top!

We hit the trail head at about 7:30AM.... and looked like we were one of the last groups to begin our ascent...

Paul set us off with a solid pace and we made it into the alpine in about one hour... The view was stunning with Baker hovering infront of us and sharp aspects of the glacier jetting out of the snow... We climbed a ridge for awhile and eventually started making our way to the Col. Baker is definitely one of those mountains that grows as you get closer. You think you are there but then there is another ledge to climb over.

As we were gaining ground towards the Col/saddle the Wind was starting to pick up. The wind was still quite warm and blowing in gusts. So in other words quite pleasant.

We eventually reached the saddle where the wind was pretty unreal. It was becoming difficult to see in front of you as the wind was picking up the snow off the ground and blowing it in many different directions enough so it almost felt and looked like we were in the midst of a squall.

We shedded our skis and put on our crampons to begin our trek up The Roman Wall. The snow was icy in points but on the whole not too bad but the wind... oh the wind... Basically neither of us spoke to each other for 3 hours until we made it back down to the saddle as comprehension would not have been possible. We got ourselves as bundled up as possible. As people were coming down from the summit their expressions and actions described the wildness of the wind we were to experience on top of the summit... The wall seemed to go on forever until we reached the flat section just before the summit.

The wind was gail force up there and unfortunately we did not spend too much time on the summit. It was hard to even stand up there! It truly was an amazing feeling to reach the top of something people in Vancouver constantly stare at on a nice sunny day.

We quickly retreated back to the saddle trying not to get blown off the cliff. Once we reached the saddle we put our skis back on and quickly escaped the worst of the winds. It is such a pleasure to be able to ski down rather than walk... the legs were definitely sore but the speed and ease of skiing is so wonderful. We even scored some nice pow!

We had lunch just before our last forest section... well deserved I think! We skied/hiked the last bit through the forest, the snow was thin and we could tell the sun was shinning down in the valley.

I cans see why mountaineers keep heading back into the mountains. There is some sort of addiction to it all.

Of course a little apres dinner and beers at Graham's in Glacier was in order to celebrate our success!

i think there will be more trips like this in the future

Andrew's Blog: write up and Pics

Paul's blog write up and pics

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Getting Dirty at the Dirty Duo

2010-03-17T11:04:00.000-07:00

quite literally..

Despite wanting to do this event for several years now, this was my first year racing in the Dirty Duo. I wanted to try it out with my partner Andrew as he has mad skill on the mountain bike and I love to run.

Waking up in the morning to cold pouring rain, I felt horrible to have asked Andrew to race with me as the weather was quite crap. But thankfully for the both of us this proved to add further excitement to our races. I started us off with the 25km trail run. I have been feeling a little off my game the last few weeks and wasn't sure how I would feel on this tough trail run. I didn't particularly train for this race but saying this I rarely ever "train" for a race... I mostly enjoy playing outside on the trails everyday for fun. I might have to rethink this concept as some amazing athletes are now out on the trail kicking some butt... Anyways, before I digress too much, I took off at a fair pace wanting to feel good from start to finish (well, when I mean good, I mean I would like to finish wanting to race again...). It took me until old buck to get aspects of my old racing self back... I ran up old buck in its entirety and it felt good, passing some folk made me feel better and I got my mental game back... I absolutely loved running in the freezing cold slush, mud and snow... It reminded me why i love adventure racing so much and got quick flashbacks from Patagonia Expedition Race where we traveled without trail for many days in the pouring rain, freezing cold... this was not quite to that extreme but it got me going.... pushed through until the end and managed to run in in a decent time. I then passed it over to Andrew. Andrew rocked it and got us a second place finish. It was good fun to race with him and it was a wonderful race! thanks race directors and volunteers!

the team! Pictures from race website

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina